BLOOMINGTON, IND. – The Gophers baseball team is still alive in the Big Ten baseball tournament thanks to a big comeback and an unlikely hero.
Eddie Estrada Jr. hit a pinch-hit, three-run homer in the eighth inning, and the Gophers rallied from six runs down to beat Indiana 9-8 in an elimination game Friday night.
"I kind of blacked out there for a little bit," Estrada told the Big Ten Network of his reaction to his home run. "I felt pretty good. It's one of the best feelings I've had in my life."
The Gophers (35-20) trailed 6-0 after 5½ innings and were still down 8-4 when they scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Pinch hitter Ben Mezzenga's two-run double pulled the Gophers within 8-6 before Estrada, a .172 hitter with one home run this season, homered to give the Gophers their first lead of the game.
"I just went up there with my simplest approach at-bat of the year," Estrada said, later adding: "I'm glad I did it for my team. It felt amazing."
The Hoosiers (33-22-2) weren't done, though. They put two runners on to start the ninth on a single and a four-pitch walk to Luke Miller. Craig Dedelow followed with a fly ball to center off Fred Manke for the first out. Pinch runner Laren Eustace advanced to third, but Miller — trying to get to second — got caught in a rundown and was tagged out.
Manke then struck out Logan Sowers swinging to end the game, earning his second save of the season.
Tim Shannon got the victory, pitching two-thirds of an inning.
The Gophers advance to play Iowa at 9 a.m. Saturday. If the Gophers win that game, the teams will play again at 4 p.m.
Tournament host Indiana was eliminated but still figures to be invited to the NCAA tournament.
In their first game of Day 3, the Gophers lost 11-7 to seventh-seeded Northwestern in the winners' bracket. Micah Coffey, Toby Hanson and Alex Boxwell hit homers for Minnesota.
After falling behind 5-3, the Gophers scored three runs in the top of the sixth inning — the final two on Luke Pettersen's double into the left field corner — to take a 6-5 lead.
But the Gophers couldn't keep Northwestern (26-28), the seventh seed, from continuing to adding to their run total. Minnesota used five pitchers and each gave up at least one run. Third baseman Connor Lind of the Wildcats was 2-for-4 with four RBI.
The Gophers had two runners picked off base and coach John Anderson was ejected late in the game.
The day would end much better, though, for the third seed.
