After 43 seasons at the helm of the Minnesota baseball program, John Anderson’s tenure came to a close on Saturday with a 4-2 victory over the Northwestern Wildcats.
Caden Capomaccio (2-0) got the win out of the bullpen for Minnesota (25-23, 11-13). The right-hander went 1.2 shutout innings, giving up one hit, no walks and striking out two. Connor Wietgrefe started the ballgame and went 2.2 shutout innings while allowing one hit, walking none and striking out two.
HOW IT HAPPENED
In the top of the first inning, Jake Perry tripled in to give the Gophers a runner in scoring position with one out. Josh Fitzgerald brought Perry in to score two batters later with an RBI double. Ike Mezzenga stepped to the plate and immediately drove Fitzgerald in to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead that they would never surrender.
After holding the Wildcats scoreless in the bottom of the frame, Boston Merila came across to score one more run for the ‘U’ in the top of the second as they traded two outs for a 3-0 lead.
Northwestern narrowed Minnesota’s lead to 3-2 in the fourth inning, but the Gophers pitching staff would not allow any more runs in the ballgame. In the top of the seventh, after a Kyle Bork triple, Brady Jurgella brought him around to tack on one more insurance run and make it 4-2. Tommy Gross sealed the win with a strikeout to send John Anderson into retirement with his 1,390th career victory.
GAME NOTES
» Sophomore Drew Berkland compiled three base hits in the game for Minnesota.
» Minnesota grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top half of the first and didn’t surrender that lead for the remainder of the game.
» Minnesota went 6-for-14 (.429) with runners in scoring position.
» Minnesota pitchers limited Northwestern to just 1-for-6 (.167) with runners in scoring position.
» All four senior position players recorded a hit in the game.
» Senior Tommy Gross recorded a strikeout to end the game.
» Anderson retires as the winningest coach in Big Ten history with 623 Big Ten wins (.594).
» John Anderson rounds out his career with an overall record of 1,390-1,018-3 (.577).
(info and stock photo courtesy of Gophers Sports)
