University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Host No. 4 Michigan in Home Opener
4/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
| No. 4 Michigan at No. 14/12 Minnesota | |
| Dates and Times | Friday, April 3, 2015 • 6:00 p.m. CT (BTN+) Saturday, April 4, 2015 • 1:00 p.m. CT (BTN) Sunday, April 5, 2015 • 12:00 p.m. CT (BTN) |
| Location | Jane Sage Cowles Stadium • Minneapolis, Minn. |
| Live Blogs | Game 1 | Game 2 | Game 3 |
| Notes/Previews | Minnesota | Michigan |
| Official Sites | Minnesota | Michigan |
| Social Media | @GopherSoftball | Facebook | Instagram |
MINNEAPOLIS - The No. 14/12 Minnesota softball team will host No. 4 Michigan in its home-opening series this weekend at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium in Minneapolis. The series begins Friday night at 6 and wraps up with games Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at noon. The first game can be seen on BTN Plus and the second and third games will air live on the Big Ten Network.
LAST TIME OUT
Last weekend, Minnesota played a road series at Nebraska, taking the first two games of the series by scores of 8-7 and 8-3, before falling 5-3 in the series finale.
AGAINST THE WOLVERINES
All-time, Minnesota is 27-76 against Michigan with a 4-5 mark under head coach Jessica Allister. The teams split four games last season as the Wolverines took two of three in a regular-season series in Ann Arbor, Mich. before the Gophers downed Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament championship game in Evanston, Ill.
NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Minnesota enters the weekend with a 410-204 mark at home in 41 seasons. The Gophers, who have their 2015 home opener this weekend, are 97-85 at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium after going 9-3 there last year.
RECORD ROLL
Before dropping a 5-3 contest to Nebraska last Sunday, the Gophers had won a program-record 15 straight games. Previously, their longest win streak was 12 games.
GETTING ON BASE AND SCORING
Minnesota's offense has aided greatly in its 29-5 start. The Gophers enter the week a .345 average, good for the 14th-best in NCAA Division I, and a .445 on-base percentage (19th). The team has averaged 7.41 runs per game (16th).
LEADING THE CHARGE
Gopher senior Kaitlyn Richardson was selected in the first round, fifth overall by the Dallas Charge in Wednesday's National Pro Fastpitch Draft. She was the second pick in the franchise's history and would be Minnesota's seventh player to play professionally once she plays for Dallas. Sara Moulton, a 2014 senior All-American, was drafted fifth overall last season and plays for the Chicago Bandits.
TRENDING UP
After hitting .257 through her first 22 games, Tyler Walker has raised her average 91 points since March 8. She has hit six home runs in her last seven games and is tied for the team's hitting lead in Big Ten play with a .429 average. She was espnW's Softball Player of the Week last week.
MERCHANT'S FORMER TEAM
Minnesota assistant coach Jessica Merchant will face her former team when the Gophers play Michigan. Merchant helped lead the Wolverines to the 2005 national championship.
OFFENSIVE EXPLOSION
The Gophers made program history March 13 when they posted a 20-3 win over South Dakota State. The 20 runs were the most the team has scored in a single game in the NCAA era (dating back to 1982). Minnesota exploded for 16 runs in the first inning as its first 13 hitters reached base.
RUN RULE WINS
The Gophers have piled up 10 run-rule wins in their first 34 games. Last year, 11 of the Gophers' 44 wins were by run-rule decision.
STRIKING THEM OUT
Sara Groenewegen, who led the nation with 11.6 strikeouts per seven innings last season, has kept fanning hitters in 2015. The reigning Big Ten Pitcher of the Year has 190 strikeouts in 128 innings (10.4 strikeouts per seven innings) so far. She has had eight double-digit strikeout showings and has matched her career-high with 14 strikeouts two times. She entered the week ranked fifth in the nation in strikeouts.
IN THE RANKINGS
After starting the season with its highest preseason ranking in program history at No. 15 (in both polls), Minnesota is up to No. 14/12 after starting 29-5. The Gophers reached as high as No. 11 in the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll, a program-best.
