Northwestern Upsets Minnesota to Remain Unbeaten in B1G Tournament

5/26/2017 2:21:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Highlights Postgame Press Conference

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Seventh-seeded Northwestern scored four runs in the seventh and eighth innings to pull away from No. 3 Minnesota, 11-7, and remain unbeaten in the 2017 Big Ten Baseball Tournament.

Northwestern (26-28) remains in the winner's bracket and will await the winner of No. 4 Maryland vs. the loser of No. 1 Nebraska/No. 5 Iowa. The Wildcats will play No. 4 Maryland on Saturday, May 27, at 12:30 p.m. CT. If Northwestern wins, it will play in the Big Ten Tournament championship game.

The Wildcats win today is their seventh consecutive victory, longest streak since 2003, and marks the first time since the 2002 season that the program has claimed two Big Ten Tournament wins.

Connor Lind led the way offensively for the Wildcats, going 2-for-4 at the plate with a game-high four RBI, which matched his career-high. Joe Hoscheit, Jack Claeys and Nick Paciorek each tallied two hits, while both Hoscheit (4) and Claeys (3) tallied career-highs in runs scored. Hoscheit blasted his team-leading sixth home run of the season, while Ben Dickey recorded a pair of RBI.

Freshman Sam Lawrence (5-3) made his second relief appearance of the tournament and earned the win for the second consecutive game. Lawrence tossed 1.1 innings and only allowed one hit in the five batters he faced. Freshman Hank Christie went 5.1 innings in his start, allowing four hits and four runs, while fanning four.

Minnesota struck early in the top of the first. Terrin Vavra reached base on a walk to set up Micah Coffey, who blasted a ball over the right center fence to give the Gophers a 2-0 lead.

Northwestern answered the bell right away in the home half of the first. With two outs, Joe Hoscheit singled and Matt Hopfner and Jack Claeys each walked to load the bases for Lind, who sliced a ball to the left center gap and score all three runs to put NU in front, 3-2.

The Wildcats added a run in the bottom of the second when Grant Peikert scored from third on a wild pitch. Lind built the Wildcats' lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the third with a single up the middle that scored Hoscheit.

After allowing the home run in the bottom of the first, Christie settled into a groove and retired nine straight before allowing a solo home run to Toby Hason, making it a 5-3 contest.

The Gophers were able to retake the lead with a three-run top of the sixth to go ahead, 6-5. That lead did not last long as Dickey scored Claeys from third with a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the frame to knot the game at 6-6. Grant Peikert doubled in the following at-bat to get on for Paciorek, who took a pitch back up the middle to put Northwestern in front, 7-6.

A solo home run by Minnesota brought the contest even at 7-7 heading into the seventh-inning stretch.

Northwestern blew the game open with a three-run bottom of the seventh inning that included RBI singles from Claeys and Dickey in addition to a sacrifice squeeze by Peikert.

Hoscheit's solo home run in the eighth put the exclamation point on Northwestern's 11-7 victory.