MINNEAPOLIS — South Dakota State held a five-run lead through three innings, but Minnesota stormed back to score the final 14 runs and claim a 16-7 victory in nonconference baseball action Wednesday night at Siebert Field.
The Golden Gophers improved to 19-13 overall with their second win of the season over SDSU. The Jackrabbits, who were playing for the first time in 10 days, dropped to 9-20 on the season.
After Minnesota scored twice in the bottom of the first inning, the Jackrabbits reeled off the next seven runs — six of which came in the top of the second. Two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases to start the second inning before Grant Sorensen plated Nic Werk with the first run. Carter Taylor scored on a groundout off the bat of Luke Wroblewski to tie the game and Nolan Grawe gave SDSU the lead with a bloop single to left field that scored Keagen Jirschele.
Luke Luskey then stepped to the plate for the Jackrabbits and connected on his team-leading sixth home run of the season, a three-run blast to left-center field that capped the six-run frame.
The SDSU lead grew to 7-2 in the top of the third, when Taylor was hit by a pitch for the second consecutive inning and crossed home plate on a two-out infield single by Wroblewski. However, the Jackrabbits would be held to one hit the rest of the way while Minnesota’s offense would reignite after Dylan Richardson tossed three scoreless frames between the second and fourth innings.
The Golden Gophers drew to within a run with a four-run fifth inning, then took the lead with a five-run sixth. Charlie Sutherland delivered a two-run single around a pair of sacrifice flies for the fourth-inning runs, while Weber Neels put Minnesota out front with a two-run single in the sixth. Jackson Akin added a run-scoring single of his own.
Minnesota continued to pull away in the late innings on a two-run single by Ty Allen and run-scoring single by Jack Mosh in the seventh. Sutherland closed out the scoring in the eighth with his second two-run single of the game.
Sutherland and Neels each tallied three of the Golden Gophers’ 15 hits. SDSU’s six hits were spread among six players, with Luskey’s home run the only extra-base hit.
The Jackrabbits used nine pitchers in the game, with Richardson striking out two in his three shutout innings.
Logan Winkelman picked up the win for Minnesota with two scoreless innings in which he struck out five batters. He followed three innings of one-run baseball by Caden Capomaccio, with Adam Urban wrapping up the bullpen effort by the Golden Gophers with two strikeouts in two scoreless innings.
ON DECK
The Jackrabbits remain in the Twin Cities for a three-game Summit League series against St. Paul. Friday’s series opener is set for a 3 p.m. first pitch at Koch Diamond in St. Paul.
NOTES
- Minnesota leads the all-time series, 44-15, and has won the last seven matchups
- The Jackrabbits dropped to 0-7 in night games this season and 0-6 in games played on a Wednesday in 2026
- Minnesota stole seven bases in the game
- Luskey’s home run was the 28th of his career
- Grawe extended his hitting streak to 10 games
- Wroblewski has hit safely in five consecutive games
- Richardson’s outing was his longest as a Jackrabbit