University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Indiana
Minnesota Evens Series in 8-6 Win Against Indiana
5/7/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Box Score: Minnesota 8, Indiana 6 
No. 19 Minnesota brought the series against Indiana level with an 8-6 victory at Siebert Field on Saturday afternoon. The Gophers (30-14, 12-4 Big Ten) rattled off 15 hits, including seven with two outs, to secure the team's 30th win of the 2016 campaign.
Austin Athmann, Matt Fiedler and Dan Motl each went 3-for-5 to pace the offense. Micah Coffey and Motl provided the pop in the lineup by notching home runs and secured two RBI apiece. Alex Boxwell also added two RBI on a pinch-hit single.
On the mound, Dalton Sawyer put in a solid outing en route to his sixth win of the season. Sawyer tossed 6.0 innings and allowed just two earned runs on seven hits, while adding eight strikeouts. The southpaw has amassed 26 strikeouts over his last three starts for the Maroon and Gold.
Indiana (27-17, 12-5) opened the scoring in its first at-bat on a sacrifice fly to center field to take a 1-0 lead.
Minnesota responded by scoring runs in the every inning between the second and sixth stanzas.
The Gophers took over the lead in bottom of the second on one big swing from their No. 7 hitter in the lineup. After Matt Stemper reached base once he was plunked by a pitch, Coffey tattooed a ball over the wall in right-center to make the score line 2-1, in favor of the home team.
In the third, the Hoosiers knotted the contest back up at 2-2 on a run-scoring single that just made it past the infield.
Minnesota regained the advantage when Motl drilled a home run that hit the batter's eye in straight away center field to make it 3-2.
Jordan Smith laced an RBI double with two retired in the bottom of the fourth and later scored on a Motl single through the right side of the infield that brought the margin up to three.
The Gophers matched their output from the previous frame in the fifth by plating two runs to take a 7-2 lead. Following consecutive singles to right field from Athmann and Toby Hanson, Alex Boxwell's number was called and he delivered with an opposite-field flare that brought in two and extended the lead to five.
After making a run-saving catch in the top of the sixth, J. Smith worked his way around the bases in the home half of the sixth. First, the bopper tallied his eighth double of the season to the right-center gap. J. Smith then advanced bases in the next two at-bats on deep fly balls, including a sacrifice fly from Connor Schaefbauer, to make it 8-2 in favor of the Gophers.
While his offense was producing, Sawyer kept Indiana off-balance by using his full arsenal of pitches. The Waconia, Minn. native held the Hoosiers to hit just 4-for-17 with runners in scoring position.
In the eighth, Indiana stormed all the way back to make it a two-run ballgame. The Hoosiers scored runs on a pair of RBI singles, an error and a sacrifice fly to make it 8-6.
Jordan Jess was summoned to complete the two-inning save and he did just that. Jess retired all six batters his face, capped by a swinging strikeout to send Minnesota to its largest win total since 2013.
The Gophers had a record attendance at the new Siebert Field with 1,349 in attendance.
Minnesota and Indiana close their series in a rubber match tomorrow at 12 p.m. in the Gophers' annual Strike Out Cancer Day. At Sunday's game, student-athletes will be stationed near the gates collecting donations toward cancer research. Information and donations can also be made once inside the facility on the concourse. Supporters can also purchase "Strike Out Cancer" wristbands at the LLS table.
