The Gophers baseball team defeated Ohio State 5-4 in 18 innings on Saturday at Siebert Field in the longest Division I game since Rice defeat Houston 3-2 in 20 innings on May 31, 2015.

Gabe Knowles ended the 5-hour, 45-minute marathon with a one-out, bases-loaded single. The game began at 2 p.m. and was televised by the Big Ten Network.

The Gophers (19-23, 9-7) and Buckeyes (24-21, 7-9) were supposed to play a doubleheader Saturday (actually, they sort of did), but Game 2 was postponed until 10 a.m. Sunday. The final game of the series will follow that.

A one-out, seventh-inning RBI single by the Gophers' Eli Wilson sent the game to extra innings.

Five Gophers pitchers combined to strike out 22, and the bullpen closed the game with 10 ⅔ innings of shutout ball.

The Gophers had 15 hits — all singles — drew 15 walks and left 27 runners on base. The only extra-base hits in the game were a pair of doubles by the Buckeyes.

Three pitchers, including two for Ohio State, reached the 100-pitch mark. There were a total of 521 pitches in the game.

U softball hands Wildcats first league loss

The Gophers softball team (38-11, 19-2) handed Northwestern its first Big Ten loss of the season, defeating the Wildcats 8-0 in five innings before the third-largest home crowd (1,286) in program history.

The result means that Northwestern (42-7, 21-1) and Michigan (39-11, 21-1) will go into the final day of the regular season tied for first. The Gophers were eliminated from the race Friday.

The Gophers ended Northwestern's longest winning streak since 1985 at 20 games.

Sydney Smith and Amber Fiser comined on a one-hitter. Fiser, who got the victory in relief, struck out seven in 2 ⅔ innings.

The Gophers got a three-run homer from MaKenna Partain and a two-run shot by Emma Burns.

The losing pitcher was Danielle Williams (37-4).

Northwestern has scored one run in the first two games of the series.

Game 3 will be at 3 p.m. Sunday and on the Big Ten Network (Game 2 was on ESPN).