University of Minnesota Athletics
Sunday, March 27
12:00 PM
University of Minnesota
8-15
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Western Illinois
2-19
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Western Illinois
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Minnesota Gophers
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Photo by: Bjorn Franke
Gophers Complete Sweep with Victory over WIU
3/27/2022 3:30:00 PM | Baseball
Chase Stanke hit his team-leading eighth home run of 2022
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Golden Gophers baseball team completed a sweep over Western Illinois with a 6-1 victory on Sunday afternoon at U.S. Bank Stadium. It's the program's first series sweep since May of 2019 against Ohio State.
Redshirt junior right-hander Aidan Maldonado (1-2) struck out a career-high nine batters in 5.0 innings of work for the Gophers (8-15, 0-0 Big Ten), picking up his first win in the maroon and gold. Offensively, freshman Brady Counsell tallied his first multi-hit game as a Gopher while Chase Stanke hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season. Andrew Wilhite went 2-for-3 with an RBI double.
Stanke started the scoring for the 'U' in the bottom of the first, crushing a no-doubt solo home run into the upper deck in right field.
On the mound, Maldonado was extremely sharp in Sunday's outing. He worked around walks in the first and second inning to hold WIU (2-19, 0-3 Summit) scoreless. After striking out the first hitter in the third, he allowed a one out double. He quickly responded, striking out the next two hitters to strand the runner on second. The redshirt junior once again struck out the side in the fourth as he continued to baffle the Leathernecks hitters.
Minnesota had a golden scoring opportunity in the bottom of the fourth as it had runners on second and third with one out. A foulout and a groundout put an end to the threat as the home team stranded two in scoring position.
After Maldonado induced a groundout to start the fifth, WIU's Adam Juran bunted for a hit and advanced to second on a throwing error. Maldonado would work his team out of the jam, forcing the next hitter to groundout to short before striking out the final hitter looking for his ninth punchout of the afternoon.
Singles by Counsell and Andrew Wilhite got the Gophers going in the bottom of the fifth. After Brett Bateman was hit by a pitch, the bases were left loaded with no outs and the Leathernecks starter Brian Raymond was removed from the game. WIU's Collin Kratz came into the game and walked Drew Stahl and Chase Stanke to put the Gophers up 3-0. Kelly and Grimm then struck out swinging and Merila flew out to left as the Gophers left three more stranded.
Freshman right-hander Seth Clausen came into the game for Maldonado in the top of the sixth. Two infield hits sandwiched a walk to load up the bases with no outs. Clausen then induced a 5-3 double play ball, which the Gophers happily exchanged for giving up their first run of the day. Left-hander Jack Liffrig then came in with two outs and a man on second, striking out the final hitter looking to keep Minnesota's lead at 3-1.
The Gophers would answer back in the bottom of the frame. Ronald Sweeny came into the game for Jake Larson and hit a double off the top of the wall in right field. Two hitters later, Wilhite doubled off the fence in right field as well, scoring Sweeny to put the home team up 4-1. Bateman would reach on a throwing error by WIU's second baseman, which brought Wilhite in to score.
Minnesota would add one more in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Merila to go up 6-1. Tom Skoro, George Klassen and Will Semb would pitch the final two innings, sealing the victory and the sweep for Minnesota.
UP NEXT
Minnesota heads to Rutgers (16-6, 2-1 Big Ten) for a three game series in Piscataway, N.J. next weekend. Game one is on Friday at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT.
Redshirt junior right-hander Aidan Maldonado (1-2) struck out a career-high nine batters in 5.0 innings of work for the Gophers (8-15, 0-0 Big Ten), picking up his first win in the maroon and gold. Offensively, freshman Brady Counsell tallied his first multi-hit game as a Gopher while Chase Stanke hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season. Andrew Wilhite went 2-for-3 with an RBI double.
Stanke started the scoring for the 'U' in the bottom of the first, crushing a no-doubt solo home run into the upper deck in right field.
On the mound, Maldonado was extremely sharp in Sunday's outing. He worked around walks in the first and second inning to hold WIU (2-19, 0-3 Summit) scoreless. After striking out the first hitter in the third, he allowed a one out double. He quickly responded, striking out the next two hitters to strand the runner on second. The redshirt junior once again struck out the side in the fourth as he continued to baffle the Leathernecks hitters.
Minnesota had a golden scoring opportunity in the bottom of the fourth as it had runners on second and third with one out. A foulout and a groundout put an end to the threat as the home team stranded two in scoring position.
After Maldonado induced a groundout to start the fifth, WIU's Adam Juran bunted for a hit and advanced to second on a throwing error. Maldonado would work his team out of the jam, forcing the next hitter to groundout to short before striking out the final hitter looking for his ninth punchout of the afternoon.
Singles by Counsell and Andrew Wilhite got the Gophers going in the bottom of the fifth. After Brett Bateman was hit by a pitch, the bases were left loaded with no outs and the Leathernecks starter Brian Raymond was removed from the game. WIU's Collin Kratz came into the game and walked Drew Stahl and Chase Stanke to put the Gophers up 3-0. Kelly and Grimm then struck out swinging and Merila flew out to left as the Gophers left three more stranded.
Freshman right-hander Seth Clausen came into the game for Maldonado in the top of the sixth. Two infield hits sandwiched a walk to load up the bases with no outs. Clausen then induced a 5-3 double play ball, which the Gophers happily exchanged for giving up their first run of the day. Left-hander Jack Liffrig then came in with two outs and a man on second, striking out the final hitter looking to keep Minnesota's lead at 3-1.
The Gophers would answer back in the bottom of the frame. Ronald Sweeny came into the game for Jake Larson and hit a double off the top of the wall in right field. Two hitters later, Wilhite doubled off the fence in right field as well, scoring Sweeny to put the home team up 4-1. Bateman would reach on a throwing error by WIU's second baseman, which brought Wilhite in to score.
Minnesota would add one more in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Merila to go up 6-1. Tom Skoro, George Klassen and Will Semb would pitch the final two innings, sealing the victory and the sweep for Minnesota.
UP NEXT
Minnesota heads to Rutgers (16-6, 2-1 Big Ten) for a three game series in Piscataway, N.J. next weekend. Game one is on Friday at 2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Maldonado, Aidan (1-2)
L: Raymond, B. (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Mitchell, N. 1 ; Sievers, J. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Santarelli,M 1
SB: Mitchell, N. 1
CS: Botaletto, D 1
Batting:
2B: Sweeny, Ronald 1 ; Counsell, Brady 1 ; Wilhite, Andrew 1
HR: Stanke, Chase 1
RBI: Stahl, Drew 1 ; Stanke, Chase 2 ; Merila, Boston 1 ; Wilhite, Andrew 1
SH: Grimm, Otto 1 ; Wilhite, Andrew 1
SF: Merila, Boston 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Stanke, Chase 1 ; Kelly, Jack 1 ; Sweeny, Ronald 1 ; Counsell, Brady 1 ; Wilhite, Andrew 2
SB: Bateman, Brett 1 ; Kelly, Jack 1
CS: Merila, Boston 1
HBP: Bateman, Brett 1
PO: Stahl, Drew 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
OF
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RHP
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/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
3B
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballC
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballOF
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