Gophers

Gophers baseball keeps season alive with frantic rally against Hoosiers

Eddie Estrada Jr.'s three-run homer capped the Gophers' comeback.

May 27, 2017 at 6:43AM

Gophers pinch hitter Eddie Estrada celebrated his three-run homer against Indiana on Friday, capping a comeback from six runs down. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

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.

Gophers infielder Jordan Kozicky made a diving catch in left field against Indiana. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Indiana catcher Ryan Fineman reached to apply a tag on Gophers outfielder Jordan Smith. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Eddie Estrada celebrated his three-run home run that gave the Gophers the lead in the bottom of the eighth by knocking helmets with teammate \during the Indiana Minnesota Big Ten Baseball Tournament at Bart Kaufman Field in Bloomington, Ind. Friday, May 26, 2017. ORG XMIT: inbht101 (The Minnesota Star Tribune)