The Gophers baseball team beat Northern Illinois 3-2 in 10 innings on Friday in Glendale, Ariz., in its season opener.
DH Dan Olinger's one-out, bases-load single in the 10th scored Connor Schaefbauer with the winning run. Schaefbauer led off the inning with a walk, moved to second on a balk — then after an intentional walk — to third on a hit batter.
Olinger was 3-for-5 with two RBI and a run scored.
Senior righthander Kevin Kray got the victory, giving up one hit and striking out three in three scoreless innings.
The Gophers other two runs came on rightfielder Bobby Juan's double in the fifth inning and Olinger's single in the eighth.
Gophers starter Alec Crawford gave up one earned run and two hits in four innings. He struck out eight, walked two.
U golfers in consolation
The Gophers men's golf team lost 4-0-1 to Purdue in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Match Play Championship in Bradenton, Fla. Matt Rachey halved the No. 5 pairing, his teammates all lost. Jose Mendez lost 1-up at No. 1.
Seventh-seeded Minnesota opened the tournament — and their spring season — with a 4-1 victory over 10th seed Penn St. They had two one-sided wins, Jose Mendez won 6 and 5 at No. 1 and Jon Trasamar 7 and 5 at No. 5. Jon DuToit and Alex Gaugert also won their matches.
The Gophers will face Illinois on Saturday in a consolation match.
United joins study
Minnesota United FC was selected to take part in an international project examining the effectiveness of Australian Football League's vilification rules. The research will focus on efforts to combat various forms of discrimination in sports.
"We are honored to be chosen as part of this research," United president Nick Rogers said. "For me, the central thing we do as a club is create a culture. We want to have a culture of winning and a culture of excellence and that necessitates a culture of tolerance.
"We want to send a message to prospective players that this is an organization of acceptance."
Etc.
• Jon Lehman and Justin Barber of the Gophers track and field team took first and third, respectively, in the weight toss at the Iowa State Classic in Ames. Lehman threw 72 feet, 4¼, Barber 61-11. Teammate Zach Siegmeier won the pole vault, clearing 17-6½. … In the women's competition, the Gophers were second in the distance medley in 11:12.85. Katie Hill, Megan Geyen, Alena Brooks and Maggie Bollig were the relay members.
• The No. 14-ranked Gophers women's gymnastics team will host Michigan State at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Sports Pavilion. Minnesota is 8-1, 2-1 in the Big Ten.
