University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
4-2
Chicago State
4-2
Sweet 16! Gophers Rout Chicago State, 16-5
2/24/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. - The Gopher Baseball team came from behind 4-0 and never looked back, eventually claiming a 16-5 victory over Chicago State on day two of the Snowbird Classic at North Charlotte Regional Park.
"I've been impressed with our guys," said head coach John Anderson of the first two days of the Snowbird Classic. "They have prepared in between games from day-to-day ready to get after it, compete, and play with some grit and passion. We finally got some big hits. Games are going to start out that way. Stuff is going to happen. We had some sun difficulty out in right field. Both teams had to struggle out there to see the ball.""
Minnesota (4-2) continued its offensive explosion of the last two days, with five different players collecting multiple hits, including a 4-for-6 game for Cole McDevitt, who lifted his second home run (2) in as many days and drove in five runs. Alex Boxwell also launched a home run (2) for the Gophers while Terrin Vavra had the first triple of the season.
Chicago State (4-2), which played earlier in the day, got off to a hot start scoring once in the first inning against lefty Nick Lackney, adding three more in the third. Lackney would finish his day without a decision but did strike out five in 4.0 innings of work.
"He didn't have his greatest stuff, but he competed his butt off," said McDevitt of Lackney. "He struggled at some points, but at the same time, it could have gone a lot worse for sure. You have to tip your hat to him because he controlled it enough to get by."
After scoring once in the third, the Gophers added three in the fourth to tie the game and would put up several more crooked numbers, adding two in the sixth on Boxwell's home run, six in the seventh, and four in the eighth. Brett Schulze (1-0) came on in relief of Lackney, striking out four in 3.0 shutout innings. Rookie Ryan Duffy pitched a perfect ninth inning, striking out two for the victory.
"We wanted to find an opportunity to get [Duffy] back out there sooner rather than later," said Anderson. "That was a tough stage for him out there the other night against the Twins, with a tie game in the ninth in that ballpark and that crowd. He learned something from it. He adjusted his approach and had a plan out on the mound today. He'll leave Florida in a better place than where he was Thursday night."
Dean Youngblood (0-1) suffered the loss for Chicago State, allowing eight runs but just four earned in 3.0 innings of relief work. Minnesota had six extra-base hits on the day.
QUOTABLE
"There's no secret coming into our season that we have an offense that I think is one of the best in the country. It's experienced and it's tough to get through 1 through 9. When we're on all cylinders like we are right now, it's tough to get us out." - Cole McDevitt on the offense's high-scoring start to the weekend
NOTABLE
Cole McDevitt's five-RBI game was the first for the Gopher since Matt Stemper drove in five at Indiana on April 14, 2017 … Nick Lackney tallied career-high five strikeouts just one start after tallying four Ks last weekend … Toby Hanson, Jordan Kozicky, and Riley Smith each walked twice for Minnesota ... the Gophers have had 15 or more hits in each game this weekend.
UP NEXT
The Gophers will wrap up their stay at the Snowbird Classic Friday when the team takes on Mount St. Mary's to close the weekend in Port Charlotte on Sunday. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m. ET
Single-game tickets, season tickets, and group ticket packages are available for all Gopher Baseball games including the 2018 DQ Classic/Big Ten-Pac-12 Challenge at U.S. Bank Stadium on March 2-4. Stay up to date with all Gopher Baseball news by following the Gophers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram via the links provided, or get all Minnesota Golden Gopher athletics news and highlights, including exclusive behind-the-scenes content and special ticket offers and promotions delivered straight to your inbox by signing up today!
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Schulze, Brett (1-0)
L: Youngblood, Dean (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Freund, Cody 1 ; Lowe, Tyler 1 ; Cox, Matt 1
RBI: Paciello, Matt 2 ; Lowe, Tyler 1 ; Cox, Matt 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Thomas, Zach 1 ; Brock, Jr., Reggie 1 ; Freund, Cody 1 ; Paciello, Matt 1 ; Lowe, Tyler 1
SB: Coss III, Jon 1
PO: Coss III, Jon 1
Batting:
2B: Kozicky, Jordan 1 ; Hanson, Toby 1 ; Wilson, Eli 1
3B: Vavra, Terrin 1
HR: McDevitt, Cole 1 ; Boxwell, Alex 1
RBI: Vavra, Terrin 1 ; Meyer, Max 1 ; Kozicky, Jordan 1 ; Hanson, Toby 1 ; Mezzenga, Ben 1 ; McDevitt, Cole 5 ; Boxwell, Alex 2 ; Wilson, Eli 1
SH: Pettersen, Luke 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Pettersen, Luke 2 ; Vavra, Terrin 3 ; Kozicky, Jordan 2 ; Estrada, Jr., Eduardo 1 ; Mezzenga, Ben 1 ; McDevitt, Cole 1 ; Smith, Riley 2 ; Boxwell, Alex 1 ; Hitz, Jacob 1 ; Wilson, Eli 2
SB: Vavra, Terrin 1 ; Kozicky, Jordan 1 ; Mezzenga, Ben 1 ; Smith, Riley 1
HBP: Pettersen, Luke 1 ; Coffey, Micah 1
PO: Wilson, Eli 1
