The No. 7/7 University of Minnesota Gophers host the Indiana Hoosiers for a three game Big Ten series this weekend.
This will be the first meeting between the two teams since the Gophers swept the Hoosiers at Jane Sage Cowles in 2013. Friday and Saturday’s games can be watched on BTN Plus and Sunday’s game will be shown on the Big Ten Network.
Five Things To Know
1. The Gophers opened their home stretch on Tuesday with a doubleheader against South Dakota. They won 8-0 and 12-0 in front of the home crowd. They started the season with 33 games on the road and went 30-3 in that stretch. They started the season 19-0 which broke a program record for longest winning streak. Minnesota will be home all four weekends in April and have one more home midweek doubleheader.
Gophers celebrate a Kendyl Lindaman HR (photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)
2. Freshman catcher Kendyl Lindaman has been on a tear. She has homered five times in the past four games and is on record pace. She now has 13 home runs this season which is good for fifth best in team history. The program record is 15 in a season. Lindaman currently has a slugging percentage of .882. The program record for slugging percentage in a single season is .752.
3. After two more shutouts this past weekend the Gopher pitching staff now has combined for 13 this season. They have a 1.40 ERA and are holding opposing batters to a .190 batting average.
Two-time All-American Sara Groenewegen leads the way with a 15-2 record, 0.50 ERA and 136 strikeouts this season. Amber Fiser has appeared in the second most games and is 6-0 with a 2.35 ERA and 43 strikeouts.
Tori Finucane has thrown three one-hitters this season. She has a 5-1 record with a 2.86 ERA and 46 strikeouts. Carlie Brandt has been solid mostly appearing in relief with a 6-0 record and a 0.72 ERA. Kendal Judge had made four appearances and has only allowed three hits.
4. In the latest NCAA statistical rankings the Gophers were ranked top-10 in the NCAA in seven categories and first in the Big Ten in six. They are hitting .346, (5,1) averaging 1.94 doubles per game (2,1), have an ERA of 1.40 (9,1), an on base percentage of .435 (8,1), are averaging 7.17 runs a game (6,1), have a .537 slugging percentage (5,2) and a winning percentage of .914 (5,1).
Individually Groenewegen is ranked third in the NCAA and first in the Big Ten in ERA with a 0.50. Lindaman is fifth in the NCAA with 13 home runs. Dwyer is fourth in RBIs and Lindaman is seventh with 46 and 44 respectively. Lindaman is also ninth in the NCAA with a .882 slugging percentage. Parlich is the sixth toughest player to strikeout in the NCAA and first in the Big Ten only striking out at an average of once every 65.5 at bats.
5. Minnesota has now been ranked in the top-10 for five straight weeks. Prior to this season they had never been ranked in the top-10 in program history. They are No. 11 in the latest RPI.
Due to incoming inclement weather, Sunday’s game against Indiana has been moved. The Gophers will play doubleheader on Saturday.
The first game will be played at 1:00 p.m. with the second game following 25 minutes after the first ends. Friday’s game is still on for 6 p.m. All three games can be seen on BTN Plus.
MNN Sports Director Mike Grimm sat down this week with Gopher senior leftfielder Sam Macken of Rochester on the team’s 32-3 start:
Gopher LF Sam Macken dives to make a catch (photo courtesy of Gopher Sports)