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Minnesota Heads to Lincoln for Weekend Series with Nebraska
3/20/2025 11:41:00 AM | Softball
MINNEAPOLIS, MN --The 'U' continues their travels as they head to Lincoln to take on Nebraska this weekend. The Gophers will take on the Cornhuskers three times from March 21-23. Minnesota will stay in the central time zone for the rest of the season after traveling to each time zone in the United States to start the season. The Gophers will face Nebraska at 5pm on Friday, 1pm on Saturday, and the series finale on Sunday at 12pm.
GAME ONE
Minnesota (13-15, 2-2 B1G) vs. #21 Nebraska (20-8, 1-2 B1G)
Date: Friday, March 21
Time: 5:00PM (CT)
GAME TWO
Minnesota (13-15, 2-2 B1G) vs. #21 Nebraska (20-8, 1-2 B1G)
Date: Saturday, March 22
Time: 1:00PM (CT)
GAME THREE
Minnesota (13-15, 0-0 B1G) vs. #21 Nebraska (20-8, 1-2 B1G)
Date: Saturday, March 15
Time: 4:30PM (CT)
Nebraska
The Gophers continue their 51st season of competition against Nebraska. The Huskers are 20-8 on the year and come into the matchup with the 'U' ranked #21 in both the USA Softball poll and NFCA poll. Nebraska comes in on a two game losing streak having lost to Ohio State twice last weekend. The Huskers are 4-0 at home this season. They are 13-6 at neutral sites and 3-2 in true away games. The Gophers and Huskers have face a few similar opponents this year. Both teams have face Tennessee, Duke, Utah, and Missouri. Nebraska beat Tennessee in the first game of the season and Minnesota lost to the Volunteers at the Mary Nutter Classic in California. Both teams have lost to Duke and neither team scored a run against the Blue Devils as the 'U' lost 0-2 and Nebraska lost 0-3 in 8 innings. Minnesota lost to Utah twice during the first weekend of competition. The Utes won the first game 0-2 and the second game 8-9. Nebraska beat Utah 10-2 in 5 innings in their lone matchup. The Huskers went 1-1 against Missouri this season having lost the first matchup 1-7 and winning the next one 10-9. The Gophers defeated Missouri 3-1 at the Mary Nutter Classic in California.
History
The Gophers and Huskers will meet again this week after having faced each other last spring in Iowa City, IA during the B1G Softball Tournament. The Huskers came out on top in the matchup 11-2 in 5 innings. The all-time series between Nebraska and Minnesota is very close with the Gophers holding a 22-21 edge. The first time these two programs faced each other was in 1979. The Gophers won 14 straight matchups from April 22 2026 to April 17 2021. Since then the Maroon and Gold are 3-7 against Nebraska. Minnesota is 17-7 overall against the Huskers since they joined the B1G. The 'U's largest margin of victory over the Nebraska was a 16-0 win in March 2017.
Stats Highlights From Last Weekend
The Gophers went 2-2 last weekend. They started out with a 6-5 win over Michigan State before falling to the Spartans 11-13. Then the 'U' beat Penn State 8-7 before closing out the weekend with a 1-5 loss to PSU. Nani Valencia and Taylor Krapf led the Gophers at the plate in Oklahoma City. Valencia hit .571 over 4 games with 8 hits in 14 ABs. She produced 3 RBI, 4 walks, a slugging% of .643, and an on-base% of .667. She also posted a 1.000 fielding% with 3 putouts and 1 assist. Krapf hit .444 for the weekend with 4 hits in 9 ABs. She had a homerun, a triple, and a double as part of her 4 hits. She amassed 10 total bases while slugging 1.111 and had an on-base% of .667 to match Valencia for the team high. She also took 5 walks and was hit by a pitch 3 times. Just like Nani, Taylor also posted a 1.000 fielding% with 20 putouts over 4 games. Freshmen Jae Cosgriff and Tinley Easton both had good weekends at the plate as well. Both players had 4 hits on the weekend with Cosgriff hitting .364 and Easton .308. Jae had 1 RBI, slugged .364, took 4 walks, and had an ob-base% of .533. Tinley had 5 RBI, 1 homerun, slugged .538, and had an on-base% of .308 for the weekend. 5 Gophers hit over .300 for the weekend including Margaret Tobias who had 5 hits in 15 ABs, slugged .467, and an on-base% of .444. In the circle, Sydney Schwartz had another standout weekend. She posted a 1-1 record having appeared in all 4 games this past weekend. She threw 13.0 innings and struck out 13 hitters. She allowed an opponent BA of .340 while starting 3 games and throwing a complete game against Penn State to secure the win. Freshman Natalie Susa also had a solid weekend going 1-0 in 2 appearances. She struck out 3 over 6.0 innings of work and had an opponent BA of .304.
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