All Things Gopher Baseball

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Gopher Mac said:
I also attended the game. Minnesota could not string together too many hits. I think they only had 4 or 5 the entire game. Pitching did not look very sharp I think they gave up 14 or 15 hits. Better team won. We used 6 pitchers they need some work. It was a beautiful night at the ballpark even if the Gophers lost. To early to tell what the team is going to look like but they need some work.
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Gulf Coast put the ball in play and a couple of times the ball caught grass—the advantage of not striking out ten or so times. I would like to see the ESPN plus replay of the shot to right that turned into the double play. It was either a great play or the right fielder sold it beautifully. I was the fan with the motley combination of a gold Gopher basketball cap and a 2014 maroon Gopher football “brick-by-brick” pullover—much to my wife’s sartorial chagrin.
 

Not impressed with Lippe, especially in the 6 spot. He looks terrible against the breaking ball. We have to have a contact hitter on that spot. I am sure there will be plenty of rbi opportunities for the 6 hole hitter.
 

Hubie29 said:
Not impressed with Lippe, especially in the 6 spot. He looks terrible against the breaking ball. We have to have a contact hitter on that spot. I am sure there will be plenty of rbi opportunities for the 6 hole hitter.
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Haven't been able to see the games yet, only boxscore watching, but try not to put too much stock in one bad game (FGCU game). It seemed he was having good ABs last weekend.

Its Hamilton and Neels that need to get the bats going.

Let's get the 2 game sweep against Northeastern.
 


Get out the brooms. Gophers win 15-5 to move to 5-1 on season. Northeastern is bad but we will take it. Morton seemed to struggle with control today.

Good test coming up with a 4-game home series against Kansas.
 


DarrenTheGreek said:
Get out the brooms. Gophers win 15-5 to move to 5-1 on season. Northeastern is bad but we will take it. Morton seemed to struggle with control today.

Good test coming up with a 4-game home series against Kansas.
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Man Kruzan was pretty dominate out of the pen today. Really looking forward to those Kansas games and see this team challenged.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
Get out the brooms. Gophers win 15-5 to move to 5-1 on season. Northeastern is bad but we will take it. Morton seemed to struggle with control today.

Good test coming up with a 4-game home series against Kansas.
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It at least looks like an upgrade from the last few John Anderson teams
 

Big Ten recap from the first 2 weekends.

TeamRecordRPINotes
Oregon8-033Have played nothing but creampuffs
USC7-0253-game sweeps over Pepperdine and Rice
UCLA6-160Ranked #1 in country. Swept #10 TCU this weekend
Minnesota5-1109Taken care of business against weaker teams
Northwestern5-2124Took 1 of 3 from Rice; 2-game sweeps over Cornell & BC
Ohio State5-21445-0 against creampuffs; lost 2 games to LA Tech
Iowa4-294Similar resume as Gophers.
Rutgers4-321Won 1 of 3 against Va Tech. Losses were 1-run games
Michigan4-399Extremely difficult schedule. Good start
Purdue4-3116Had a good showing this weekend taking 2 out of 3 against So Miss, Baylor and Oregon State
Nebraska4-3155Solid win against Florida State
Illinois3-477Playing a sneaky touch schedule and holding their own
Maryland3-4103Got swept by Louisiana Ragin Cajuns this weekend
Michigan State2-440Brutal schedule. Played at Louisville and at Texas. Not bad record considering
Penn State2-4178Have had a tough couple of weekends
Indiana2-5133Have played a very tough schedule (UNC, LSU, Notre Dame)
Washington1-6242They look bad. Shutout first 3 games of season and just lost 2 of 3 to Loyola
Wisconsin0-99999Worst program in the country.
 

Comparison of incoming vs outgoing transfers from this past off-season. Through 2 weekends it looks like the Gophers have come out alright. (Let me know if I missed anyone....quite possible). If someone transferred from Minnesota to a non-D1 school I'm not counting their stats.

HITTERS
Outgoing (note: Preston Leon doesn't have an AB yet for FIU)
PlayerNew SchoolAVGABH2B3BHRRBIBBK
Drew BerklandNotre Dame0.241297000526
Kris HokensonMurray State0.192265101426
Landen LozierKansas0.25041000122
TOTAL.220591310110614

Incoming
PlayerOld SchoolAVGABH2B3BHRRBIBBK
Davis HamiltonNorth Dakota State0.217235000132
Ty AllenBelmont0.280257120413
Jack BelloButler0.278185201824
Michael LippeLouisville0.200153100597
Ethan ColeMN-Duluth0.00010000000
TOTAL.2448220421181516

PITCHERS
Outgoing (Total ERA 3.75)
PlayerNew SchoolIPERHBBK
Kyle RemingtonIllinois3.6670013
Noah RooneyNotre Dame8.3335917
TOTAL12.059210

Incoming (Total ERA 2.03)
PlayerOld SchoolIPERHBBK
Isaac MortonTexas A&M8.3334958
Marcus KruzmanSt Thomas9.66702110
Ben GregoryMaryville72517
Brandon JaenkeViterbo1.3330211
Logan WinkelmanMissouri Western0.3330200
TOTAL26.667620826
 
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Pitching matchups for this 4-game series:
Wednesday
Mason Cook (0-0, 2.84 ERA, 6.1 IP) vs Ben Gregory (0-0, 2.57 ERA, 7 IP)

Friday
Dominic Voegele (1-1, 7.00 ERA, 9 IP) vs Cole Selvig (1-0, 5.79 ERA, 9.1 IP)

Saturday
Mathis Mayral (2-0, 1.50 ERA, 12 IP) vs Isaac Morton (1-0, 4.32 ERA, 8.1 IP)

Sunday
Madden Seidl (1-0, 6.00 ERA, 6 IP) vs Marcus Kruzan (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 9.2 IP)
 

Fun game but Gophers came up short 7-8. Middle innings showed that we still have some depth issues in the bullpen. Weber Neels was fantastic tonight, 2 dingers and a double off the baggie. Let's get em Friday.
 

DarrenTheGreek said:
Fun game but Gophers came up short 7-8. Middle innings showed that we still have some depth issues in the bullpen. Weber Neels was fantastic tonight, 2 dingers and a double off the baggie. Let's get em Friday.
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Disappointing not being able to bring around the double with nobody out in the 9th. Kansas bottom of the order really produced. Early in the year still so I think just kinda giving guys some opportunities out of the bullpen but in a must win game half the guys used last night wouldn't have been used.
 







Fun to watch the runs pour in. We're cooking right now and it's fun to watch. Let's get the weekend sweep tomorrow.

Also big kudos to Ryerse. 5 shutout innings in relief on the season. Kid had a baptism by fire last season as an early enrollee but he's showing why he was MN high school POY as a sophomore
 



Neels is just smoking hot at the plate right now. Fun to watch. Good to see some big hits from the bottom of the order as well.
DarrenTheGreek said:
Also big kudos to Ryerse. 5 shutout innings in relief on the season. Kid had a baptism by fire last season as an early enrollee but he's showing why he was MN high school POY as a sophomore
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Ditto. Ryerse had 10 appearances last year (albeit five were starts), and was charged with at least one earned in all of them. Great to see him already with solid outings.
 


Tough one today. Kansas gave us some opportunities to tie the game in 7th and 8th, but we couldn't take advantage. Then, things unraveled in the top of the 9th in what had to be one of the longer 4 run half innings in baseball history.

Urban pitched well in relief and maybe was just given a batter too many in the 9th.

7-3 pretty good start, with 7 more coming up at US Bank Stadium.
 

Felt like yesterday was one that got away. Gophers were smoking the ball at the start but a couple great fielding plays by KU kept it to 1 run. Second inning picked up where the first left off with a leadoff single and then Martin had a full-count. Unfortunately a sure ball 4 that ran inside made contact with the bat and was a foul ball instead. Then on next pitch it was a strikeout-throwout double-play and in one pitch it went from a potential first and second with nobody out to bases empty with 2 outs. The bats went quiet at that point.

It felt like Kruzan and Urban were each left in too long....but in hindsight it appears we simply ran out of pitchers and were one inning short from being able to close the series.

Just shows that the bullpen depth is still an issue. We absolutely cannot afford an injury if we want to compete in B1G. Hopefully Whelan will be back before long to add to the bench strength.

Like SomeGopherFan said....good start at 7-3. The top 9 hitters and top of the rotation/bullpen have done a very good job.

I mentioned Ryerse in my last post but you can also add Urban to that mix. Had a rough freshman campaign but he's been excellent this year.
 
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The hitting has been great this year but something to keep an eye on is the future development. Our production is top-heavy at the moment with the senior class getting 57% of the plate appearances and junior class is getting 36%. The sophomore class, represented only by Jameson Martin, is picking up the remaining 7%.

Senior: 54 for 188, 14 2B, 10 HR, 44 RBI, 40 BB/HBP, 45 K, .287 AVG, .412 OBP
Junior: 41 for 124, 7 2B, 4 3B, 7 HR, 31 RBI, 18 BB/HBP, 25 K, .331 AVG, .415 OBP
Sophomore: 9 of 24, 1 2B, 1 HR, 8 RBI, 4 BB/HBP, 5 K, .375 AVG, .464 OBP
 

Gophers looked like they were going to cruise up 7-0 after 3, then it was a 3 run game going into the bottom of the 8th, and then Gophers score 7 in the bottom of 8th to run-rule the Panthers, who were very sloppy in field. Dobis pitched solid 3 innings and Ryerse another great outing, and Sperry comes into a bases loaded, one out jam in 5th and strands the runners to earn the W.
 

Couple days old but we'd be remiss if we didn't acknowledge the honors Weber Neels earned last week/weekend.




MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. – University of Minnesota senior catcher Weber Neels has picked up a pair of national weekly honors for his performance last week against Kansas, as announced by various publications today.

Neels was tabbed as the catcher for Baseball America's National Team of the Week, and was also named the Dick Howser Trophy National Co-Hitter of the Week, as presented by The Game Headwear.

The honors come one day after Neels earned his first career Big Ten Player of the Week honor, and his first Big Ten weekly honor since being named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week back in 2023

The senior catcher slashed a .714 batting average, .737 on base percentage, and 1.714 slugging percentage last week, helping lead the Gophers to a 2-2 week against the Jayhawks. Neels tallied nine runs batted in and four home runs, including a three run home on Wednesday. Neels also tallied two stolen bases and a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage.
 

A couple intangibles that really stand out from the Gophers vs their opponents:
1. Fielding: Gophers have committed 6 fielding errors and have a .984 fielding percentage. Opponents have committed 21 errors and sport a .944 fielding percentage. You'd have to go back to 2018 for the last time that Minnesota had a better fielding percentage than their opponents across an entire season.

2. Stolen Bases: Gophers are 34 of 40 on stolen base attempts for an 85% success rate. The past 3 seasons have all been +80% success, which is much better than the 67-70% average from most seasons before that. But comparing the number of steals to that of opponents and that is really where the current team (and last year) stands out. This year we have 26 more stolen bases than our opponents. Check out the season stats going back to 2018
2026: +26
2025: +48
2024: +2
2023: -34
2022: -21
2021: -31
2020: -19
2019: 0
2018: +30
Under McDevitt the Gophers have really stressed aggressiveness on the base paths and it's clearly showing up on the stat sheet. Let's hope it continues as we get into conference play.
 

Richter returns to the lineup in a big way with 3 hits and 4 RBIs and the pitching was very solid as Gophers take care of business and win the finale 6-2.

UNLV is off to a good start but lost at home to 0-13 Northern Colorado today.
 


DarrenTheGreek said:
Gophers have committed 6 fielding errors and have a .984 fielding percentage. Opponents have committed 21 errors and sport a .944 fielding percentage.
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I was thinking this too the other night. There have been too many games past few seasons where opponents weren't making the same errors we were. So far the script has been flipped. The newcomers have been pretty good defensively. I thought Hamilton had a rough start in DeLand, but he has been really good on the home stand. Bello has been steady and picking throws at first. Lippe and Allen have been catching what they need to. Hope it continues.
 

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