University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
5-8
South Dakota State
3-9
Late Comeback Stalls as Gophers Fall to SDSU
3/4/2020 11:12:00 PM | Baseball
Patrick Fredrickson threw the first 5 1/3 innings for the Gophers, giving up four runs on three hits and one walk while tying his career high in strikeouts with eight. Although behind 4-1 upon Fredrickson's exit, the Maroon & Gold would string together a series of runs in the bottom of the sixth.
After Sam Ireland opened the scoring for the U with an RBI double in the second inning, the bats awoke for a four-run sixth inning that featured five hits. Jordan Kozicky doubled to get things going in the frame and Jack Kelly drove the Gopher shortstop home with an RBI single to center field.
Serving as the designated hitter, Max Meyer brought Minnesota within one run with an RBI single to right-center that plated Kelly. The final two runs of the frame came in on a clutch Andrew Wilhite two-run single, giving Minnesota a 5-4 lead.
Thereafter, South Dakota State quickly regained the lead the next half inning with three runs of their own to take a 7-5 advantage. Minnesota chipped away in the bottom half with one run via a Jack Wassel RBI single that scored Drew Stahl.
With the Gophers down 7-6, the Jackrabbits added three more runs in the ninth to extend their lead to 10-6. In the bottom of the ninth, Minnesota made a legitimate comeback attempt, scoring two runs on a Drew Hmielewski single. The comeback ended there, however, as the Gophers were ultimately unable to scrape together any more runs.
Will Anderson was saddled with the loss on Wednesday, tossing 2/3 of an inning and allowing two runs on one hit, two walks, one hit batter and two strikeouts.
Eli Sundquist earned the win for South Dakota State, pitching 2/3 of an inning in relief and surrendering three runs on four hits and one walk.
Quotable
"Offensively, I saw some good adjustments out there from some of the guys. We continue, for the most part, to play pretty good defense. We just haven't been able to prevent the big inning," said head coach John Anderson. "I've seen enough good things from everybody to feel like there's an opportunity here for us to be better, but we have to stay connected to the process and forget about our win-loss record. It has to be about daily learning and taking care of the little things."
Notable
Ireland produced a three-hit game at the plate in the loss, finishing three-for-four with one double, one run and one RBI. Wednesday's performance marks the first multi-hit effort of Ireland's young career.
Fredrickson tied his career high in strikeouts during his 5 1/3 innings of work, setting eight Jackrabbit hitters down on strikes. The junior previously struck out eight batters on May 5, 2018 against Indiana.
Up Next
Minnesota hosts Utah on Friday at 6:30 p.m. in the first installment of a three game series at U.S. Bank Stadium.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Eli Sundquist (1-1)
L: Anderson, Will (0-1)
S: Brett Mogen (1)
Batting:
HR: Matt Krambeck 1
RBI: Gus Steiger 1 ; Ryan McDonald 1 ; Josh Falk 3 ; Drew Beazley 1 ; Luke Ira 1 ; Matt Krambeck 2
SH: Luke Ira 1 ; Derek Hackman 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jamie Berg 2 ; Gus Steiger 3 ; Ryan McDonald 1 ; Derek Hackman 1 ; Colton Cox 2 ; Matt Krambeck 1
SB: Gus Steiger 1
HBP: Josh Falk 1 ; Colton Cox 1
Batting:
2B: Kozicky, Jordan 1 ; Ireland, Sam 1
RBI: Wilhite, Andrew 2 ; Wassel, Jack 1 ; Kelly, Jack 1 ; Ireland, Sam 1 ; Hmielewski, Drew 2 ; Meyer, Max 1
SH: Kozicky, Jordan 1 ; Meyer, Max 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Stahl, Drew 1 ; Wassel, Jack 1 ; Bertrand, Easton 2 ; Kozicky, Jordan 1 ; Kelly, Jack 1 ; Ireland, Sam 1 ; Meyer, Max 1
SB: Wilhite, Andrew 1 ; Stahl, Drew 2 ; Meyer, Max 1
CS: Wilhite, Andrew 1
HBP: Wilhite, Andrew 1
