University of Minnesota Athletics
Monday, February 17
Tempe, AZ
12:00 PM
University of Minnesota
2-2
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Arizona
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Minnesota
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Arizona
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Photo by: Brad Rempel
Massey Shines as Maroon & Gold Hand Arizona First Loss of Season
2/17/2020 5:03:00 PM | Baseball
Tempe, Ariz. – Minnesota Baseball concluded their season-opening trip to Arizona with a bang on Monday afternoon, upending undefeated Pacific-12 Conference foe Arizona (3-0), 5-2.
Right-hander J.P. Massey was the clear-cut highlight of the day for the Maroon & Gold, starting the game on the mound for the Gophers and lasting 4 2/3 innings. In his second appearance of the young season (first start), Massey baffled Wildcat hitters, allowing just three hits and one walk to go along with an impressive seven strikeouts.
The outing represented career highs in both innings pitched and strikeouts for Massey, topping his previous bests of 4 1/3 innings and five strikeouts.
Striking first in the contest, Minnesota put their first run on the board after a Jordan Kozicky sacrifice fly brought home Ronald Sweeny from third after the transfer junior opened the inning with a triple down the right field line.
The U kept the momentum rolling in the fourth, when Max Meyer produced an RBI single to right-center to score Jack Kelly. Minnesota added a third run in the fifth, as Kozicky came across the plate after a Zack Raabe fly ball was botched in right field.
With a 3-0 lead, things got interesting in the sixth as Arizona stormed back with two runs of their own off Gopher reliever Drake Davis. The Wildcats' two-run sixth would represent the entirety of the scoring for Arizona, however, who were unable to figure out Minnesota's Bubba Horton in the contest's latter innings.
Horton entered the game with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh. It would be all Horton from that point forward, as the southpaw worked the Gophers out of the bases loaded jam and subsequently tossed a pair of scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth to lock down the game for the U.
In doing so, Horton earned the first save of his college career. The junior ended with a final line of 2 1/3 innings pitched, one hit allowed and three strikeouts.
Before it was all said and done, the Gophers extended their 3-2 lead in the eighth with a Sweeny bases loaded walk and Kozicky RBI single to right. As Horton locked down the save in the ninth, the final score sat at 5-2.
Reliever Drake Davis was credited with the win for Minnesota, throwing 1 2/3 innings and giving up two earned runs, three hits and one walk with a pair of strikeouts.
Arizona starter Dawson Netz was saddled with the loss, lasting 4 1/3 innings with three runs allowed (two earned), four hits, one walk and two strikeouts.
Quotable
"I think this team has a growth mindset. They really are hungry for information," said head coach John Anderson. "They do an incredible job of supporting one another. That's what today was about. We had better at bats and found some ways to put the ball in play. [Arizona] is a very good team. For us to hold them to two runs and pitch the way we did, it's a pretty good effort by our staff."
"It was a team effort today. We had a lot of guys step up," said Massey "At the end of the day, I don't really look at my own stats. Everything I did out there was because of my guys and they were behind me the whole game."
Notable
Massey notched career highs in both innings pitched (4 2/3) and strikeouts (seven) en route to leading the Gophers to victory against the Wildcats.
Raabe extended his team-leading 19-game on-base streak with a single up the middle to lead off the top of the ninth inning.
Horton recorded his first career save in the game, throwing 2 1/3 shutout innings to close out the contest.
Transfer junior Ronald Sweeny registered the first extra-base hit of his NCAA career against Arizona, swatting a lead-off triple down the right-field line in the third.
Up Next
Minnesota will travel to Fort Myers, Fla. this week for an exhibition game with the Twins on Feb. 21 before returning to Minneapolis to host a three-game series against TCU from Feb. 22-24.
Right-hander J.P. Massey was the clear-cut highlight of the day for the Maroon & Gold, starting the game on the mound for the Gophers and lasting 4 2/3 innings. In his second appearance of the young season (first start), Massey baffled Wildcat hitters, allowing just three hits and one walk to go along with an impressive seven strikeouts.
The outing represented career highs in both innings pitched and strikeouts for Massey, topping his previous bests of 4 1/3 innings and five strikeouts.
Striking first in the contest, Minnesota put their first run on the board after a Jordan Kozicky sacrifice fly brought home Ronald Sweeny from third after the transfer junior opened the inning with a triple down the right field line.
The U kept the momentum rolling in the fourth, when Max Meyer produced an RBI single to right-center to score Jack Kelly. Minnesota added a third run in the fifth, as Kozicky came across the plate after a Zack Raabe fly ball was botched in right field.
With a 3-0 lead, things got interesting in the sixth as Arizona stormed back with two runs of their own off Gopher reliever Drake Davis. The Wildcats' two-run sixth would represent the entirety of the scoring for Arizona, however, who were unable to figure out Minnesota's Bubba Horton in the contest's latter innings.
Horton entered the game with the bases loaded and two outs in the seventh. It would be all Horton from that point forward, as the southpaw worked the Gophers out of the bases loaded jam and subsequently tossed a pair of scoreless frames in the eighth and ninth to lock down the game for the U.
In doing so, Horton earned the first save of his college career. The junior ended with a final line of 2 1/3 innings pitched, one hit allowed and three strikeouts.
Before it was all said and done, the Gophers extended their 3-2 lead in the eighth with a Sweeny bases loaded walk and Kozicky RBI single to right. As Horton locked down the save in the ninth, the final score sat at 5-2.
Reliever Drake Davis was credited with the win for Minnesota, throwing 1 2/3 innings and giving up two earned runs, three hits and one walk with a pair of strikeouts.
Arizona starter Dawson Netz was saddled with the loss, lasting 4 1/3 innings with three runs allowed (two earned), four hits, one walk and two strikeouts.
Quotable
"I think this team has a growth mindset. They really are hungry for information," said head coach John Anderson. "They do an incredible job of supporting one another. That's what today was about. We had better at bats and found some ways to put the ball in play. [Arizona] is a very good team. For us to hold them to two runs and pitch the way we did, it's a pretty good effort by our staff."
"It was a team effort today. We had a lot of guys step up," said Massey "At the end of the day, I don't really look at my own stats. Everything I did out there was because of my guys and they were behind me the whole game."
Notable
Massey notched career highs in both innings pitched (4 2/3) and strikeouts (seven) en route to leading the Gophers to victory against the Wildcats.
Raabe extended his team-leading 19-game on-base streak with a single up the middle to lead off the top of the ninth inning.
Horton recorded his first career save in the game, throwing 2 1/3 shutout innings to close out the contest.
Transfer junior Ronald Sweeny registered the first extra-base hit of his NCAA career against Arizona, swatting a lead-off triple down the right-field line in the third.
Up Next
Minnesota will travel to Fort Myers, Fla. this week for an exhibition game with the Twins on Feb. 21 before returning to Minneapolis to host a three-game series against TCU from Feb. 22-24.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Davis, Drake (1-0)
L: Netz, Dawson (0-1)
S: Horton, Bubba (1)
Batting:
2B: Kelly, Jack 1
3B: Sweeny, Ronald 1
RBI: Meyer, Max 1 ; Sweeny, Ronald 1 ; Kozicky, Jordan 2
SH: Hmielewski, Drew 1
SF: Kozicky, Jordan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kelly, Jack 2 ; Stanke, Chase 1 ; Sweeny, Ronald 1 ; Kozicky, Jordan 1
HBP: Stanke, Chase 1 ; Kozicky, Jordan 1
Batting:
2B: Holgate, Ryan 1 ; Blas, Jacob 1
RBI: Holgate, Ryan 1 ; Blas, Jacob 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Boissiere, Branden 1 ; Holgate, Ryan 1
SB: Wells, Austin 1 ; Blas, Jacob 1 ; Kato, Kobe 1
CS: Blas, Jacob 1
HBP: Williams, Donta 1 ; Wells, Austin 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
rf/lf
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
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LHP
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/ Baseball
IF
/ Baseball
RHP
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IF
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