The weather might have been warm for this weekend’s baseball series at Siebert Field, but the hot corner was hot.
Minnesota’s third baseman Jack Hannahan had a monster weekend for the Gophers — the sophomore led Minnesota to a four-game sweep of Iowa.
Hannahan swung a good stick, going 10 for 16 at the plate, including hitting two dingers and driving in five runs. On the year, Hannahan is now batting .441 against Big Ten pitching.
Hannahan, who is recovering from offseason wrist surgery, is starting to get back into the form he had last year.
“He’s started to feel better these last two or three weeks, and he’s starting to swing the bat like he can,” coach John Anderson said. “As well as he’s played at the plate, he’s also played some outstanding defense, also.”
In the field, Hannahan made several plays worthy of ESPN’s SportsCenter, although he did let one slip through the legs Bill Buckner-style in Sunday’s game.
Asked what he had for breakfast each morning, Hannahan replied with the somewhat obvious answer.
“My Wheaties,” he said.
Back in the polls
The weekend sweep not only vaulted the Gophers back into first place in the Big Ten, but it also vaulted them back into the polls.
Minnesota is ranked 30th in the Collegiate Baseball top 30. The Gophers are the only Big Ten team ranked in that poll.
Tough to be a Hawkeye
Minnesota’s win on Sunday was the 19th straight over Iowa. The last time the Hawkeyes beat the Gophers was May 11, 1996.
That means not one of Iowa’s graduating seniors has ever been on the field for a Hawkeyes win over the Gophers.
Big Ten roundup
The second important sweep on the weekend took place in West Lafayette, where Purdue swept Illinois.
The four straight Illini losses dropped them to third in the conference. Penn State, which didn’t play any Big Ten games this weekend, sits in a close second behind Minnesota.
Next weekend’s Gophers opponent, Michigan State, dropped three of four to Northwestern this weekend and is now 4-11 in the conference — good enough for last place.
Cyclone warning at Siebert
Iowa State heads up to campus Wednesday for the second end of the season’s home-and-home series.
The Gophers defeated the Cyclones 6-3 two weeks ago in Ames.
John R. Carter covers baseball and welcomes comments at [email protected].
