Minnesota Scene: Gophers baseball team on verge of Big Ten title

Junior righthander Reggie Meyer gave up only three hits in eight innings as the Gophers beat Rutgers 4-0 on Friday afternoon in Piscataway, N.J., to clinch at least a tie for the Big Ten regular-season conference title after second-place Michigan lost 3-0 to Purdue.

No. 12 Minnesota (36-13, 17-4 Big Ten) needs one win in the next two games against the Scarlet Knights (25-24, 7-15) for an outright title.

The Gophers took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Terrin Vavra's RBI single and scored three more runs in the fourth on Toby Hanson's RBI single and Ben Mezzenga's two-run double.

Max Meyer pitched a scoreless ninth inning for Minnesota.

Eric Rolland, Augsburg University's men's and women's golf coach, defeated Derek Holmes of Dellwood Country Club 3 and 1 to win the Minnesota PGA Match Play Championship at Windsong Farm in Independence.

"First off, I want to give a shout out to all the kids at Augsburg," Rolland said. "This is the highest accomplishment I've had at the Section level."

Rolland, the No. 4 seed, edged Casey Vangsness of Minneapolis Golf Club on the 20th hole in the semifinals.

• The No. 37 Gophers men's tennis team will play No. 3 Ohio State at noon Friday in Winston-Salem, N.C., in the round of 16 at the NCAA tournament. The Buckeyes (31-2) have beaten Minnesota (17-8) twice this season, 5-2 and 4-1.

• Melanie Brunsdon, the assistant athletic director at Bellarmine University in Louisville the past five years, was named the associate athletic director at Winona State.

• Augustana is tied for seventh place with a 13-over 606 after two rounds of the NCAA Division II women's golf tournament in Houston.

• St. Thomas is seventh at 884 after three rounds of the NCAA Division III men's golf tournament in Greensboro, N.C.