Surprise, AZ — The University of Minnesota Baseball program is set to open its 135th season in the history of the program this weekend at the Sanderson Ford Classic in . The Gophers will play UC-Santa Barbara twice and Oregon State and New Mexico once each from Friday, Feb. 17 through Monday, Feb. 20. All games can be viewed on FloBaseball.com. Fans will need to pay a monthly subscription fee to access. Tickets for the event are available at SurpriseStadium.com.

WEEKEND STARTERS:
Friday, Feb. 17
Minnesota (A) vs. #14 UC Santa Barbara
First Pitch: 6 p.m. CT
Location: Surprise Stadium
Minnesota Starter: LHP Tucker Novotny (1-1, 3.86 ERA in 2022)
UCSB Starter: RHP Mike Gutierrez (9-1, 3.19 ERA in 2022)
Watch: FloBaseball ($)

Saturday, Feb. 18
Minnesota (A) vs. #18 Oregon State
First Pitch: 1 p.m. CT
Location: Surprise Stadium
Minnesota Starter: RHP George Klassen (0-2, 14.09 ERA in 2022)
OSU Starter: RHP Jacob Kmatz (8-2, 4.19 ERA in 2022)
Watch: FloBaseball ($)

Sunday, Feb. 19
Minnesota (H) vs. #14 UC Santa Barbara
First Pitch: 6 p.m. CT
Location: Surprise Stadium
Minnesota Starter: RHP Sam Malec (0-0, 9.88 ERA in 2022)
UCSB Starter: RHP Reed Moring (Freshman in 2023)
Watch: FloBaseball ($)

Monday, Feb. 20
Minnesota (A) vs. New Mexico
First Pitch: 10 a.m. CT
Location: Surprise Stadium
Minnesota Starter: RHP Richie Holetz (1-3, 7.41 ERA in 2022)
UNM Starter: TBA
Watch: FloBaseball ($)

MINNESOTA’S HISTORY IN SEASON OPENERS/SURPRISE
-The Gophers are 7-3 in their last 10 season openers. The ‘U’ defeated Florida Atlantic 9-1 in last year’s lidlifter.
-Minnesota last played in Surprise in 2019, going 1-3 with a win and a loss versus Gonzaga and losses to Oregon State and New Mexico.
-The ‘U’ started off the 2016 season in Surprise, going 3-1 with two wins over Utah, a win over Utah Valley and a narrow 8-7 loss to Oregon State.

JOHN ANDERSON’S 42ND SEASON
-John Anderson is in his 42nd year at the helm of Gopher Baseball and holds a 1,347-964-3 (.582) overall record. This includes a 604-400 (.603) Big Ten record. Under Anderson’s watch, the Gophers have won 11 Big Ten titles and have made the NCAA Tournament 19 times.
-The winningest coach in Big Ten history, Anderson won his 600th conference game in late April, a 7-3 win over Penn State. He’s the only B1G coach to reach that mark.
-Anderson coached his 1,000th career B1G game last May against Indiana. He’s the only coach in conference history to hit that mark.

SERIES HISTORY
-Minnesota leads the all-time series against UCSB, 3-0. The ‘U’ swept the Gauchos back in 2009.
-Oregon State leads the Gophers, 9-3, all-time. Their last meeting was in Surprise, Ariz., a 13-1 Beavers win in 2019. Prior to that, the two teams met in the 2018 Super Regionals in Corvallis, Ore. OSU went on to win that series and the College World Series.
-The Gophers lead the all-time series against New Mexico, 2-1. The two teams last met in Surprise, Ariz., in 2019. UNM won 11-1.

TUCKER TALKS

Gopher starting pitcher Tucker Novotny spoke with MNN sports director Mike Grimm:

 

Tucker Novotny

(info and pictures courtesy of Gopher Sports)

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