University of Minnesota Athletics
Saturday, March 7
6:00 PM
University of Minnesota
6-9
3
vs
6
Utah
5-7
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Utah Utes
0
1
0
1
0
0
0
2
2
6
9
0
Minnesota Gophers
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
1
3
10
0
Minnesota Falls to Utah in Game Two
3/7/2020 10:42:00 PM | Baseball
MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota Baseball team scored three runs in the final two innings against Utah on Saturday night, but ultimately came up short in the contest, 6-3.
Utah was the first to strike on Saturday night, scoring one run on a single to right field in the second and another on a two-out double in the fourth. The game would remain in a 2-0 Utah advantage until the eighth, at which point the scoring began to ramp up for both sides.
Minnesota starter J.P. Massey pitched the first four-plus innings for the Maroon & Gold, allowing two runs on four hits, five walks and two strikeouts. The right-hander was replaced in the fifth by lefty reliever Bubba Horton, who tossed 3 2/3 scoreless frames for the Gophers with one hit and four strikeouts.
In the top half of the eighth, the Utes put together a two-out rally after Horton exited the game. Utah pushed across two more runs on a double down the left field line off of Minnesota reliever Trent Schoeberl.
Behind 4-0, the Minnesota bats awoke in the bottom of the eighth, plating two runs of their own. It began with a Zack Raabe lead-off walk, followed by a deep RBI triple to right-center off the bat of Jack Wassel. Jack Kelly then drove in Wassel with a groundout to second base to bring the Gophers within two, 4-2.
In the ninth, Utah extended their lead to 6-2 with a two-run double to right-center field. Nevertheless, the Gophers would not go down quietly in this one, putting together a threatening bottom half of the ninth.
Minnesota loaded up the bases with two outs in the ninth inning, bringing Easton Bertrand to the plate as the tying run. Bertrand laced the first pitch he saw to center field for an RBI single, cutting the Ute lead to three and putting the go-ahead run at the plate in the form of Jack Kelly.
The Gopher comeback attempt ended there, as a pop-up to shortstop ended the game and handed Utah starter Riley Pierce his first victory of the young season. Pierce pitched six shutout innings on Saturday night with five hits, three walks and nine strikeouts.
Quotable
"You can't have big innings if you don't put balls in play. We had a couple strikeouts with the bases loaded and we've really struggled with getting guys in from third base with less than two outs, said head coach John Anderson. "We have to find a way and that takes a whole lineup. I thought that was a big factor in the game and could have changed the momentum. Everybody remembers what happened at the end, but what happened earlier in the game is as big of a factor as the end of the game."
Notable
Sam Ireland and Otto Grimm were the lone Gophers to record multi-hit efforts in game two, each notching two apiece. Ireland secured his second two-plus hit performance in as many nights with a single and double on Saturday.
Horton tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit and striking out four Utes. The junior's 23 strikeouts this season represents a new career high – a feat Horton accomplished in just 14 innings of work.
Up Next
Minnesota hosts Utah on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. at U.S. Bank Stadium in the third and final installment of the series.
Utah was the first to strike on Saturday night, scoring one run on a single to right field in the second and another on a two-out double in the fourth. The game would remain in a 2-0 Utah advantage until the eighth, at which point the scoring began to ramp up for both sides.
Minnesota starter J.P. Massey pitched the first four-plus innings for the Maroon & Gold, allowing two runs on four hits, five walks and two strikeouts. The right-hander was replaced in the fifth by lefty reliever Bubba Horton, who tossed 3 2/3 scoreless frames for the Gophers with one hit and four strikeouts.
In the top half of the eighth, the Utes put together a two-out rally after Horton exited the game. Utah pushed across two more runs on a double down the left field line off of Minnesota reliever Trent Schoeberl.
Behind 4-0, the Minnesota bats awoke in the bottom of the eighth, plating two runs of their own. It began with a Zack Raabe lead-off walk, followed by a deep RBI triple to right-center off the bat of Jack Wassel. Jack Kelly then drove in Wassel with a groundout to second base to bring the Gophers within two, 4-2.
In the ninth, Utah extended their lead to 6-2 with a two-run double to right-center field. Nevertheless, the Gophers would not go down quietly in this one, putting together a threatening bottom half of the ninth.
Minnesota loaded up the bases with two outs in the ninth inning, bringing Easton Bertrand to the plate as the tying run. Bertrand laced the first pitch he saw to center field for an RBI single, cutting the Ute lead to three and putting the go-ahead run at the plate in the form of Jack Kelly.
The Gopher comeback attempt ended there, as a pop-up to shortstop ended the game and handed Utah starter Riley Pierce his first victory of the young season. Pierce pitched six shutout innings on Saturday night with five hits, three walks and nine strikeouts.
Quotable
"You can't have big innings if you don't put balls in play. We had a couple strikeouts with the bases loaded and we've really struggled with getting guys in from third base with less than two outs, said head coach John Anderson. "We have to find a way and that takes a whole lineup. I thought that was a big factor in the game and could have changed the momentum. Everybody remembers what happened at the end, but what happened earlier in the game is as big of a factor as the end of the game."
Notable
Sam Ireland and Otto Grimm were the lone Gophers to record multi-hit efforts in game two, each notching two apiece. Ireland secured his second two-plus hit performance in as many nights with a single and double on Saturday.
Horton tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit and striking out four Utes. The junior's 23 strikeouts this season represents a new career high – a feat Horton accomplished in just 14 innings of work.
Up Next
Minnesota hosts Utah on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. at U.S. Bank Stadium in the third and final installment of the series.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Pierce, Riley (1-1)
L: Massey, J.P. (1-1)
S: Schramm, Dustyn (2)
Batting:
2B: Kiernan, Jayden 1 ; Zavolta, Vinny 1 ; Moeller, Zack 2
RBI: Kiernan, Jayden 2 ; Moeller, Zack 4
SH: Fernlund, Chase 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Knight, Briley 1 ; Thompson, Tyler 1 ; Zavolta, Vinny 3 ; Richardson, Matt 1
SB: Richardson, Matt 1
Batting:
2B: Raabe, Zack 1 ; Ireland, Sam 1
3B: Wassel, Jack 1
RBI: Wassel, Jack 1 ; Bertrand, Easton 1 ; Kelly, Jack 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Raabe, Zack 1 ; Wassel, Jack 1 ; Grimm, Otto 1
SB: Wilhite, Andrew 1
HBP: Wilhite, Andrew 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
rf/1b
AB
4
R
0
H
2
RBI
0
ph/dh
AB
2
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballRHP/1B
/ Baseball
C/OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballIF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
IF
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