Gophers Sweep FGCU With 8-4 Win

(GopherSports.com) -- The University of Minnesota baseball team completed a series sweep at Florida Gulf Coast with an 8-4 win Sunday. Matt Stemper hit a home run and Jordan Smith batted 4-for-4 with a run and two RBIs to lead the Golden Gophers (3-7) at the plate.

Starter Tim Shannon held the Eagles (5-7-1) to two runs in his six innings for his first win. Minnesota recorded 11 hits and no errors, while FGCU had eight hits and committed three errors.

Stemper’s home run to left field opened the scoring for Minnesota in the second inning. The Gophers added two more runs in the third on four hits—by Smith, Dan Motl, Matt Fiedler (2-for-5) and Michael Handel (2-for-5)—and a sacrifice fly by Connor Schaefbauer.

Minnesota scored twice more in the sixth. Tony Skjefte singled on a hit-and-run play that moved Stemper to third. Stemper scored on a wild pitch and Skjefte on a Smith single.

The Eagles plated one run in the third on an RBI grounder, and one in the sixth on Jake Noll’s home run. The score was 5-2, Gophers, heading into the seventh before Minnesota pushed three more runs across.

Shannon allowed two runs on six hits and a walk and struck out three in his longest outing of the season. Fiedler earned his first save after entering with bases loaded in the ninth with the potential tying run on deck. He walked in one run, but retired the other two batters he faced to close the game.

NOTABLES
*Smith hit .500 (6-for-12), Fiedler .429 (6-for-14) and Handel .385 (5-for-13) during the three-game series.

*In his first start of the year, Stemper was the second Gopher this weekend to hit his first collegiate home run. Fiedler hit his in Saturday’s game.

*The series sweep was Minnesota’s first since sweeping Purdue at Siebert Field in May last season. It was the Gophers’ first non-conference sweep hosting a season-opening series against Northern Illinois at a neutral site last year, and their first road non-conference sweep since Dallas Baptist in 2009.

*Reggie Meyer made his collegiate debut in the eighth inning. He struck out the first two hitters he faced and retired the third on a fly ball. Micah Coffey also debuted this weekend, as a substitute in Saturday’s game.

UP NEXT
The Gophers will return to Fort Myers for an exhibition game against the Twins on Wednesday. The game is set for 6:05 p.m. CST and will be simulcast on FSN Plus and the Treasure Island Baseball Network on radio.