University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
13-7
TCU
9-6
Gophers Double Up No. 9 TCU to Open Series
3/16/2018 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
FORT WORTH, Texas - The Gopher Baseball team scored early and kept scrapping for runs, eventually doubling up No. 9 TCU, 6-3, in the first of a three-game series at Lupton Stadium on Friday night.
Minnesota (13-7) took advantage of a pair of Horned Frogs errors in the opening frame as Luke Pettersen came around to score on a groundout by Alex Boxwell. The Gophers opened the second with three straight hits, including a double by Cole McDevitt, with Ben Mezzenga singling home Micah Coffey to extend the lead to 2-0.
TCU (9-6) took advantage of a balk and an error on the Minnesota infield to cut into the lead in the bottom of the second after Johnny Rizer led off the inning with a double and came in to score on the misplays, and strung together a pair of hits in the bottom of the third to tie it at 2-2.
The Gophers did not wait long to respond as Toby Hanson lifted his first home run of the season down the left field line leading off the fourth. After trading a pair of scoreless innings, the Horned Frogs would lead off the bottom of the seventh with a single by Adam Oviedo, who eventually came around to score the game-tying run thanks to a pair of groundouts and a second balk called against the Gophers.
Once again, Minnesota had the answer in the top of the next inning when Hanson led off the eighth with a double, eventually coming around to score on McDevitt's second double of the day. After a walk to Mezzenga to load the bases, Jordan Kozicky lifted a sacrifice fly to bring home Coffey to give the Gophers an insurance run.
Reggie Meyer left after 6.2 innings of work, allowing just two earned on seven hits with one strikeout, while registering a no decision.
"Reggie's amazing," said Coffey after the game. "The way he's worked, he earned a night like tonight. He went out there and battled for us. He stood on the mound with complete confidence. It was fun to play behind him."
Brett Schulze (4-0) got a strikeout for the final out of the seventh and started the eighth but allowed a pair of walks before giving way to Max Meyer, who got the next three batters to get the Gophers out of the inning unscathed.
McDevitt's ninth inning sacrifice fly gave some more insurance to the Gophers, but Meyer did not need it as he worked around a leadoff walk to claim his fifth save of the season.
QUOTABLE
"We talk about breathing, managing our experiences and our emotions, and making sure guys are staying in the present moment connected to what we have to do. When you have a pitching staff like we do, who threw the way they did tonight, it's easy to go out there with confidence." - Micah Coffey on controlling emotions when you feel you deserve to pull away
NOTABLE
The Gophers put the lead-off man on base in each of the first four innings, scoring a run in three of them … Toby Hanson hit his first home run since May 26, 2017 against Northwestern in the Big Ten Tournament … Cole McDevitt hit two doubles for the first time in his career … Brett Schulze earned his fourth win of the season, matching his total from last season.
UP NEXT
The same two teams will continue their weekend set Saturday with first pitch set for 5 p.m.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Schulze, Brett (4-0)
L: Boyles, Austin (0-1)
S: Meyer, Max (5)
Batting:
2B: Vavra, Terrin 1 ; Hanson, Toby 1 ; McDevitt, Cole 2
HR: Hanson, Toby 1
RBI: Boxwell, Alex 1 ; Hanson, Toby 1 ; McDevitt, Cole 2 ; Mezzenga, Ben 1 ; Kozicky, Jordan 1
SH: Hanson, Toby 1 ; Coffey, Micah 1 ; Wassel, Jack 1
SF: McDevitt, Cole 1 ; Kozicky, Jordan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Pettersen, Luke 1 ; Vavra, Terrin 1 ; Hanson, Toby 2 ; Coffey, Micah 2
SB: Pettersen, Luke 1 ; Mezzenga, Ben 1
CS: Pettersen, Luke 1
Batting:
2B: Rizer, Johnny 1
RBI: Baker, Luken 1 ; Boulware, Coby 1
SH: Shepherd, Conner 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Wanhanen, Connor 1 ; Rizer, Johnny 1 ; Oviedo, Adam 1
CS: Wanhanen, Connor 1
