Eighth-inning runs give Minnesota win in series opener against TCU
Minnesota broke open a 3-3 tie with two runs in the eighth inning and claimed a 6-3 win over TCU on Friday night at Lupton Stadium.
Two errors to start the game had Minnesota (13-7) in business.
Alex Boxwell put the Golden Gophers in front 1-0 with an RBI groundout. The lead for Minnesota grew to two as it once again took advantage of a lead-off batter reaching base in the second inning.
TCU (9-6) tied the game in the third with Connor Wanhanen opening the inning with a single and scored on a Luken Baker base hit to make it a 2-2 contest.
Wanhanen recorded his sixth multi-hit game of the season and the 39th of his career.
The TCU pitching staff registered double-digit strikeouts for the seventh time this season. Jared Janczak started and got the no-decision after allowing three runs (two earned) on seven hits. Janczak walked two and struck out four.
The Horned Frogs will try to even the score against Minnesota in the middle game of the series at 5 p.m. Saturday.
UTA 6, Georgia State 4
Down four runs after two innings, UTA rallied for six unanswered runs to escape Georgia State 6-4 in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both Friday night at Clay Gould Ballpark.
UTA (6-9, 1-0 Sun Belt) watched Georgia State (11-6, 0-1) start with a solo home run in the first and three unearned runs in the second inning.
Will Olson got things rolling for the Mavs with a solo home run in the fifth inning.
UTA added a run in the eighth after a leadoff walk from Josh Minjarez and a sac bunt from Aaron Funk.
A game after a season-high 13 runs on Wednesday, UTA collected five runs on eight hits in the win.
Senior lefty Brad Vassar (2-1) allowed four runs in the first two frames, only one of which was earned. Vassar worked his second straight quality start and the sixth of his career, firing six innings, allowing five hits, three walks and striking out six.
The series resumes Saturday at 2 p.m. at Clay Gould Ballpark with Trae Patterson (0-1) on the mound for the Mavs.
This story was originally published March 16, 2018 at 11:41 PM with the headline "Eighth-inning runs give Minnesota win in series opener against TCU."