University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Set to Face Badgers in Border Battle
4/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Minnesota's softball team has a chance to increase the Golden Gophers' lead in the annual Border Battle standings with the University of Wisconsin when the teams play a doubleheader in Madison Wednesday afternoon. First pitch is slated for 4:06 p.m. (CDT), and the games will be televised live on Big Ten Network, with Marney Gellner calling the play-by-play and Stacey Phillips adding color commentary.
The Gophers hold a 395-245 lead in the current standings, with 40 points (20 points per game) available to the winner of the games. Minnesota enters the doubleheader with a record of 22-25 overall and 5-7 in the Big Ten, while the Badgers are 12-32 overall and 1-9 in the conference.
The Gophers split a twinbill with Penn State on Saturday afternoon, losing 1-0 in the first game before recording a dramatic 1-0 victory in eight innings in the nightcap. Wisconsin dropped a pair of games (10-0, 6-5) to #15 Ohio State on Saturday, but the second game went 11 innings before OSU prevailed.
If Minnesota could manage a sweep of Wisconsin, it would give the Golden Gophers a 190-point advantage with only 200 points remaining -- women's golf (40), rowing (40), men's golf (40), women's track & field (40), men's track & field (40) -- in the annual contest between the schools' athletics programs. Wisconsin has captured the past two Border Battles.
The teams are tied, 15-15, in the all-time softball series between the schools. Minnesota has won three straight and four of the past six, against the Badgers. Minnesota swept last year's games in Madison, winning the first game by a 4-0 score in 11 innings and then recording a 14-4 win in five innings in the second game.
