University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Michigan State
Gophers Pick Up Second Big Ten Sweep
4/2/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Tickets: Gophers Host NDSU Tuesday; Rutgers this Weekend
East Lansing, Mich. - The University of Minnesota completed a three-game sweep over Michigan State with a 9-4 win Sunday at McLane Stadium.
This marks the first time since 2003 that the Gophers opened the Big Ten schedule with back-to-back sweeps and the first time since 2007 that they swept Michigan State. This comes off a sweep of Ohio State last weekend, the first time since the 1990 season.
The scoring for the Maroon and Gold started in the top of the second inning when they took a 1-0 lead. Matt Stemper began the inning with a ground out to second base then Jordan Smith singled down the left field line. One batter later, Jordan Kozicky was hit by a pitch, moving Smith to second base.
Eduardo Estrada, Jr. drove in Smith with a single to right field to put the Gophers up. Cole McDevitt ended the inning with a ground ball double play.
Minnesota tacked on three more runs in the top of the fifth inning. Estrada started off the inning with a triple to right center field. McDevitt singled up the middle, scoring Estrada. That was followed by a Terrin Vavra bunt single that advanced McDevitt to second base. Luke Pettersen laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners to second and third.
Micah Coffey drove in the second run of the inning with a sacrifice fly to left field that scored McDevitt. The final run of the inning came in the form of a Toby Hanson double to left center field, scoring Vavra.
The scoring in the top of the sixth inning began when Kozicky walked then Estrada reached base on an error by the second baseman, allowing Kozicky to get to second base. The two runners then advanced on a passed ball which allowed both of them to score on a McDevitt single to center field.
The Maroon and Gold tacked on two more runs in the top of the eighth inning. Mezzenga led off the inning with an infield single then scored one batter later when Smith doubled off the center field wall. Smith then advanced to third base on a Kozicky fly ball to center field. Smith came in to score on a wild pitch after a Michigan State pitching change.
Leading 8-4 heading into the ninth inning, Minnesota added one last insurance run when Hanson singled down the left field line scoring Pettersen who singled to open up the inning.
Toby Anderson started on the mound for the Gophers and threw 7.0 innings. The senior picked up his fourth victory of the season after allowing four earned runs on eight hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out two batters.
Tim Shannon pitched the final 2.0 innings where he did not allow a hit and struck out one batter.
Up Next
The Gophers will open the home season at Siebert Field Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. versus North Dakota State University. Keep up to date by following the Gophers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Game Notes
- Estrada's triple was the first of his collegiate career.
- Coffey and Hanson are tied for the team lead with 18 RBIs.
- Anderson leads the team with four wins.
