University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Seattle University
Gophers Win First Game In U.S. Bank Stadium
2/24/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Minneapolis, Minn. - The University of Minnesota picked up the first Division I baseball victory inside of U.S. Bank Stadium Friday as they defeated Seattle University 13-4.
The first two innings of play went by without any scoring until the Redhawks jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the third inning. They would then tack on one more run in the fourth.
The Maroon and Gold would answer back in the bottom half of the fifth inning with four runs of their own. A ground out by Eduardo Estrada, Jr. scored catcher Matt Stemper then shortly after Jordan Smith scored on a single off of the bat of Ben Mezzenga.
The fifth inning scoring continued when Luke Pettersen hit a come backer to the pitcher but the first baseman forgot to cover first base resulting in an infield hit for Pettersen and Mezzenga scoring. One batter later shortstop Terrin Vavra grounded out to the shortstop which scored Alex Boxwell who advanced to third base on the infield single giving the Gophers a 4-3 lead.
In the sixth inning Minnesota added one more run when freshman Eli Wilson singled through the left side of the infield for his first collegiate hit which scored Toby Hanson.
Minnesota continued to score more runs in the seventh inning when Hanson took the pitch to the opposite side of the field resulting in a double that scored Micah Coffey and Luke Pettersen.
Stemper followed that up with a two-run homerun off of the left field follow posted. Hanson scored on the dinger.
The onslaught of runs kept coming in the eighth inning starting with a Coffey single that scored Riley Smith. That was shortly followed with a Hanson triple off of the left center wall, scoring Coffey. Hanson came into score on a wild pitch then Troy Traxler capped off the night with a hit-by-pitch that scored Stemper.
Lucas Gilbreath towed the bump for the Gophers and he lasted 3.0 innings where he allowed four hits, two earned runs and six strikeouts. Tyler Hanson picked up the win when he came in for Gilbreath. He threw 3.2 innings only allowing three hits, allowed no earned runs and struck three batters.
Senior Tim Shannon followed Hanson and walked two of the three batters he faced. Next it was Jeff Fasching who got his one batter to line out to right field. Jackson Rose made his Gopher debut in the eighth inning and ended up throwing 1.2 innings, striking out one batter and allowing one earned run.
The Gophers and Redhawks will face off again tomorrow for game two at U.S. Bank Stadium starting at 6 p.m.
Game Notes
- First strike at U.S. Bank Stadium now belongs to Gilbreath.
- First Gopher hit belongs to Boxwell.
- First Gopher triple goes to Hanson.
- First home run goes into the record book as Stemper's.
- Pettersen's average dropped to .769 after tonight.
- This is Coffey's third straight multi-hit game.
