The Gophers (14-8) finished off their spring break road trip with three games against TCU.
They will come back to Minnesota feeling good after winning two of three over TCU (10-7) in Fort Worth, Texas in a series that ended Sunday.
“They competed from the first pitch of the series until the end,” head coach John Anderson said. “They’ve been committed all year long, since last fall, to the daily process and preparation, getting ready to play and just competing for nine innings, and they got rewarded again this weekend.”
Minnesota sealed a series victory over TCU in the last game of the three, overwhelming the Horned Frogs 8-0. The scoring was kick started by infielder Cole McDevitt’s RBI single in the fourth inning. Infielder Terrin Vavra hit a home run in the ninth for the seventh run of the game.
“Today we got to come out with a clear slate and attack the day,” Vavra said. “That was obviously a big thing, just understanding that we had to work back.”
To say the Gophers took a while to finish their second game is an understatement.
The game was rained out in the top of the third inning after TCU took an early 4-0 lead on Saturday night,. The teams resumed play on Sunday morning and something changed with Minnesota.
“All our pitchers today did a phenomenal job coming in just pounding the zone,” pitcher Max Meyer said. “We did a really good job executing pitches.”
The Gophers eventually tied the score 4-4 with help from Vavra. He hit two singles, resulting in three RBIs, and another RBI single from infielder Luke Pettersen. They battled four extra innings before losing in the 13th on a count of a walk-off, RBI single from TCU’s Zach Humphreys.
Minnesota starts series with a 6-3 win over TCU
The Gophers opened up the scoring in the top of the first inning after outfielder Alex Boxwell had a ground out RBI to score Pettersen, who reached on a fielding error earlier in the inning. Minnesota would further its lead with a RBI single from outfielder Ben Mezzenga in the second inning.
TCU tied the game in the third inning, 2-2, before Gophers outfielder Toby Hanson launched a home run to break the tie 3-2. TCU tied the score again in the seventh, only to let Minnesota run away with the 6-3 victory in the last two innings.
“I thought we played amazing,” Vavra said. “Kind of a little different layout because they had the rain delay obviously, but the way our guys battle through all that stuff and held their own was pretty fun to be a part of.”
The Gophers started their spring break games on Friday, March 9 with a weekend series against Creighton at U.S. Bank Stadium. They lost the first two games 7-3 before finishing the series off with a 15-1 win over the Bluejays.
After its series versus Creighton, Minnesota headed to Texas where the team beat George Washington on Tuesday 12-5 in Dallas, and then lost 13-5 at UT Arlington on Wednesday before the series against the Horned Frogs.
The Gophers will start conference play this weekend starting on Friday March, 30 against Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska.
“I think we know more about our team,” Anderson said. “I think we’re prepared to go into conference because we have played a lot of games and we know kind of where everybody fits in now, at least for now.”
