University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Purdue
Gophers Down Purdue 4-1
3/26/2016 12:00:00 AM | Softball
The No. 22 University of Minnesota Gophers topped the Purdue University Boilermakers 4-1 this afternoon moving to 21-9 on the season and 2-0 in the Big Ten.
The Gophers are set to take on the Boilermakers to wrap up the weekend series tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m.
After both teams went down in order to start the game, Minnesota got on the board in the second inning. Maddie Houlihan was walked and Sara Groenewegen followed it up with a single through the left side.
Paige Palkovich came up later with two outs and brought them both home with a double to left center. Palkovich had a strong day reaching base on all three of her bats. She has 15 RBI this season.
The next couple innings was a pitcher's duel for the second day in a row. Groenewegen went the distance in the circle for the second straight day only giving up two hits and no earned runs while striking out six batters.
Purdue's only run came in the bottom of the fourth when they took advantage of back-to-back errors to score.
Minnesota added two more runs in the top of the fifth inning. Jessie Isham was in as a pinch runner and moved to second after Palkovich was hit by a pitch for the eighth time this season. They were brought home in the form of a two RBI double to the center field wall by Sydney Fabian.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Sam Macken made the fielding play of the day sprinting in and making a diving catch in foul territory for the third out.
The Gophers finished with five hits on the day. Palkovich had two while Fabian, Groenewegen and Taylor LeMay all added one.
