University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
4-18, 0
Michigan
16-0, 0
Gophers Fall in Series Opener to Michigan
4/16/2021 7:25:00 PM | Baseball
The ball left the yard early and often in game one, as Michigan lead-off hitter Jordon Rogers began the game with a solo shot to left field. Gopher starting pitcher Sam Ireland rebounded from there, retiring three of the next four to work out of the frame.
In the bottom half of the first, Minnesota responded quickly as Brett Bateman drew a walk to put a runner on base for Easton Bertrand. Bertrand proceeded to launch a two-run home run of his own to straightaway left to give the Gophers a 2-1 lead.
In the top of the first, Michigan led off the second consecutive inning with a solo home run to tie things up at 2-2, this time off the bat of Danny Zimmerman. The Wolverines proceeded to retake the lead in the third on a Benjamin Sems RBI single, before extending their advantage to 6-2 with a bases-loaded walk, hit-by-pitch and subsequent double play.
From there, the Wolverines tacked on two more runs in the fourth on a Griffin Mazur two-run home run. Michigan added seven more runs in the fifth inning, highlighted by a grand slam off the bat of Zimmerman. The Wolverines then extended their lead to 21-2 with a pair of three run innings in the sixth and seventh, including a three-run homer off the bat of Ted Burton in the latter.
Minnesota got one run back in the bottom of the seventh, as Ronald Sweeny blasted his fourth home run of the season to right center. The Gophers struck again in the bottom of the ninth, as Zack Elliott hit his first career home run to bring in two more for the Maroon & Gold.
Minnesota reliever Patrick Fredrickson was saddled with the loss. Fredrickson pitched two-thirds of an inning and allowed four earned runs on two hits and four walks.
Gopher reliever Drew Hmielewski contributed two shutout innings of relief, allowing just two hits and striking out three.
Michigan starting pitcher Steven Hajjar earned the win, finishing with five innings pitched and allowing two earned runs on four hits and six walks while striking out seven.
Bertrand (2-for-5) and Zack Raabe (2-for-2) were the lone Gophers with multiple hits in the game.
Notable
Minnesota scored all five of their runs via the home run, as Bertrand, Sweeny and Elliott all left the yard. Elliott's home run in the ninth inning marked the first of his collegiate career.
Quotable
"First of all, I thought we responded well early and came back in a positive way, scoring a couple of runs," head coach John Anderson said. "When you don't throw the ball over the plate and you have the long innings, and we've seen that plenty this year, it's really, really hard to get any kind of offensive flow or have any flow to the game whatsoever. That's been the challenge all year... I was proud of the young guys, who sat on the bench for a long game and when they got opportunities to go into the game, some of them made some real positive contributions. That tells me a lot about them."
Up Next
Minnesota and Michigan face off again in game two of the series on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. CT. The game will stream live on BTN+.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hajjar, Steve (2-0)
L: Fredrickson, Patrick (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Elliott, Clark 1 ; Mazur, Griffin 1 ; Pace, Joe 1 ; Bullock, Christan 1
HR: Rogers, Jordon 1 ; Mazur, Griffin 1 ; Zimmerman, Danny 2 ; Burton, Ted 1
RBI: Rogers, Jordon 1 ; Molfetta, Christian 1 ; Hart, Cam 1 ; Mazur, Griffin 3 ; Sems, Benjamin 2 ; Zimmerman, Danny 6 ; Flores, Tito 1 ; Burton, Ted 3 ; Bertram, Riley 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Rogers, Jordon 2 ; Molfetta, Christian 2 ; Elliott, Clark 3 ; Mazur, Griffin 4 ; Sems, Benjamin 2 ; Lawrence, Brandon 1 ; Zimmerman, Danny 3 ; Bullock, Christan 2 ; Burton, Ted 2
HBP: Hart, Cam 1 ; Mazur, Griffin 1 ; Flores, Tito 1
Batting:
2B: Raabe, Zack 1
HR: Bertrand, Easton 1 ; Sweeny, Ronald 1 ; Elliott, Zack 1
RBI: Bertrand, Easton 2 ; Sweeny, Ronald 1 ; Elliott, Zack 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Bateman, Brett 1 ; Bertrand, Easton 1 ; Berghammer, Noah 1 ; Sweeny, Ronald 1 ; Elliott, Zack 1
SB: Stanke, Chase 1
CS: Raabe, Zack 1
