Gophers Cruise Behind Meyer’s Arm to Easy Win Over Penn St

Minneapolis - (gophersports.com) - Behind a seven-inning start from Ben Meyer, the Golden Gopher baseball team beat Penn State 6-1 in Friday night's series opener.

Penn State left-hander Nick Hedge pitched 7 2/3 innings to keep the game close late, but Minnesota (14-19, 4-9 Big Ten) added three runs to its lead in the bottom of the eighth on left fielder Jordan Smith's home run.

Meyer struck out seven Penn State (12-21, 2-7 Big Ten) batters and held the Nittany Lions to one run on six hits and a walk. Greg Guers' home run in the third provided their only run of the evening at Siebert Field.

Center fielder Dan Motl extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a 2-for-5 day. He scored once and drove in one run. Shortstop Michael Handel hit 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Smith was 1-for-4 with his third home run of the year.

Meyer (3-4) and the Gophers defense left two Penn State runners on base in the top of the first after singles through the left side of the infield. The Nittany Lions would not have more than one hit in any other inning the rest of the night.

Minnesota took a 2-0 lead in its first turn at the plate. Motl hit a single that deflected off Hedge toward the shortstop. After Motl stole second, second baseman Connor Schaefbauer moved him to third with a single. Right fielder Matt Fiedler hit a sacrifice fly deep enough to right field to score Motl and allow Schaefbauer to take second. Schaefbauer was then able to score on Handel's single to left-center.

Jordan Jess earned his second save of the season. He entered the game with a 3-1 lead and pitched two scoreless innings with two strikeouts and a walk.

NOTABLE
*Meyer has won two starts in a row for the first time this season.

*Motl's 16-game hitting streak, the longest since AJ Pettersen's 22-game streak going from 2010-11, has included nine multi-hit games.

*Handel has recorded seven multi-hit games in Big Ten play. He has made eight starts and played in 11 games total in conference play.

*Jess has made four straight scoreless appearances of at least one full inning.

*Minnesota moves to 9-1 when holding opponents to four runs or fewer.

UP NEXT
The series will continue Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 2:05 p.m. CT.