Gophers wrestlers drop Badgers to end regular season
Patrick McKee earned a pin at 125 pounds to start the meet and the 12th-ranked Gophers wrestling team beat Wisconsin 28-12 Friday night at Maturi Pavilion to close the Big Ten regular season with its sixth victory in a row.
McKee pinned Eric Barnett in 4:47 and the Gophers (11-2, 6-2 Big Ten) won the first three weights to jump out to a 13-0 lead. Garrett Joles won via technical fall at 197 pounds, and Vance VomBaur (141), Michael Blockhus (157) and Bennett Tabor (heavyweight) earned major decisions vs. the Badgers (9-5, 3-4).
The Gophers head to College Park, Md., for the Big Ten championships March 9-10.
U baseball wins opener in 12 innings
Thomas Gross pitched two perfect innings of relief in his Gophers baseball debut as the team outlasted Cal State Bakersfield 8-7 in 12 innings to open the season in Surprise, Ariz.
Gross, a senior from Minnetonka who spent last season at Creighton, struck out two.
Jake Larson drew a bases-loaded walk in the top of 12th inning to give the Gophers the lead for good.
Kris Hokenson was 3-for-7 for the Gophers, who had 11 hits but blew leads of 3-0, 5-3 and 7-5 by leaving 17 runners on base.
Ritter wins No. 100
Piper Ritter earned her 100th victory as Gophers softball coach as the team split two games in Clearwater, Fla.
Sydney Strelow delivered a walk-off single as the Gophers beat Georgia Tech 12-11 after earlier losing to No. 5 Washington 12-4.
In the second game, Georgia Tech tied the score with four runs in the top of the seventh inning before Strelow made the Gophers a winner. Morgan DeBord homered and drove in three runs, and Jess Oakland and Addison Leschber each had three hits.
Nabwe shines
Gophers redshirt freshman Annie Nabwe threw 75 feet, 6¼ inches in the women's weight throw at the Snowshoe Open at the University Field House, the final event of the indoor track and field regular season.
Nabwe's mark put her at No. 3 all-time on the Gophers and No. 4 in the nation this season.
