Gophers Will Go For Sweep Of Penn St

Minneapolis (gophersports.com) - Shortstop Michael Handel hit 4-for-5 and the Golden Gopher pitching staff, led by starter Tim Shannon, limited Penn State's offense in an 8-1 win.

Minnesota (15-19, 5-9 Big Ten) leads the series 2-0 at Siebert Field and has secured its first conference series win of the year. 

Handel hit two singles, a double and a three-run home run. He scored twice and batted in four runs. As a team, Minnesota outhit Penn State (12-22, 2-8 Big Ten) 13-6.

Shannon (2-4) pitched 6 1/3 innings in the win. He allowed one run on five hits, walked none and struck out four. Greg Guers hit 2-for-5 with a double and scored the Nittany Lions' only run on a ground ball in the sixth.

The Gophers went up 5-0 on two-out rallies in the third and fourth innings. Taylor Lehman (1-4) allowed those runs and took the loss in a six-inning, nine-hit outing.

Dan Motl extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a two-run single up the middle in the eighth inning. Pinch hitters Micah Coffey and Toby Hanson each singled to the outfield and scored on Motl's hit. Motl went on to score on Handel's double, bringing the score to 8-1.

NOTABLE

*Handel has recorded six multi-hit games in nine Big Ten starts. He is batting 6-for-9 in this series and .474 in Big Ten play.

*The Gophers have won their series against Penn State for the third straight year.

*Minnesota moves to 10-1 when holding opponents to four runs or fewer.

UP NEXT

The series will conclude Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m. CT. Looking farther ahead in the schedule, The Gophers' Sunday games against Michigan (April 26) and UC-Irvine (May 3) have both been moved from 1:05 to 12:05 p.m. CT.