No. 21 Minnesota (8-3 Big Ten, 27-12 overall) entered play in its doubleheader with Wisconsin as the Big Ten leader. By the end of game two, they were tied for third.
The Badgers (6-4-1, 21-16-1) swept both games against the rival Gophers Tuesday evening by final scores of 6-3 and 7-1.
After a quiet first two innings in game one, Minnesota grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third inning on an RBI triple by sophomore second baseman Danielle Parlich and an RBI groundout from junior pitcher Sara Groenewegen.
The Badgers had a big fourth inning, scoring five runs, highlighted by a three-run home run by senior left fielder Katie Christner.
UW added an unearned run to its lead in the fifth inning when senior shortstop Ashley Van Zeeland scored on a Minnesota error.
The Gophers would not go away quietly, adding another run on an RBI single from senior catcher Taylor LeMay. Senior pitcher Taylor-Paige Stewart relieved starter Kirsten Stevens (W, 4.1 innings, six hits, three runs, one walk, one strikeout) and held on to the victory for UW to earn her fourth save of the season.
Kelsey Jenkins (4 for 4), Van Zeeland (2 for 3) and Chloe Miller (2 for 4) led the offense, recording eight of UW’s 10 team hits.
“I really think things today started from the top and Kelsey Jenkins set the tone,” head coach Yvette Healy told UWBadgers.com. “To go 4-for-4 against Groenewegen, I think she really made the team believe that they could hit too. The short game set up a lot of the long balls.”
“You get a senior, too, like Katie Christner coming out and hitting a three-run homer in the first game – that’s special,” Healy added. “That’s your seniors buying in and playing hard and believing.”
Game two was more of the same for Wisconsin.
After Minnesota jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the fourth, UW responded in the fifth inning. Singles from Brooke Mann, Macy Oswald and a walk to Kelsey Jenkins loaded the bases for the Badgers with no outs. Van Zeeland slapped an RBI single to left field to tie the game at one. An RBI groundout by Miller and RBI sacrifice fly by Melanie Cross gave Wisconsin the lead at 3-1.
In the sixth inning, Sara Novak smacked her fifth home run on the season – a two-run shot – to push the lead to 5-1. Van Zeeland continued her hot hitting, slapping a two-out RBI triple that scored pinch-runner Brianna Flugaur. Cross followed with an RBI single to end the inning with a 7-1 lead.
Stewart, again, shut down Minnesota in the seventh, securing UW’s sweep.
Stevens (3.1 innings, four hits, one run and one strikeout) and Stewart (W, 3.2 innings, zero hits, zero runs, one walk and one strikeout) were solid, holding the high-powered Gopher offense to just one run.
“It was a total team effort today and that’s what was exciting to me,” Healy said. “We played great defense, we pitched pretty well and we pressured them with how we hit the ball. It was fun to see the whole package come together.”
With the Badgers sweep, they moved from ninth in the conference to fourth place. UW’s victory in game two equaled the total number of wins from last season (21-31).
Wisconsin continues Big Ten road play with a weekend series at Iowa.
UWBadgers.com contributed to this report.
