The No. 8 Gophers women's gymnastics team earned a spot in Saturday's NCAA Athens (Ga.) Regional finals by recording the top mark of the afternoon session on Friday with a 197.625 — the second-highest team score in program history. Advancing along with Minnesota was No. 9 Denver (196.775) and No. 1 Florida (197.950) and North Carolina State (196.775) from the evening session.

The Gophers' score is second only to the 197.725 at the Big Ten Championships, a meet they won at home on March 20.

Minnesota swept all the individual event titles. Lexy Ramler won the all-around (39.775), bars (9.950) and beam titles (9.950) while fellow senior Ona Loper took first in vault (10) and floor exercise (9.950). Ramler's all-around score was the second highest in program history. Loper's perfect 10 in vault was her second 10 in the event this season.

The top two teams from the regional finals will advance to NCAA meet on April 16-17 in Fort Worth, Texas.

Monster day at plate

Sam Baier, a senior shortstop for Augustana, hit seven home runs in a doubleheader as the Vikings swept Bemidji State 21-0 and 24-0 on Friday in Bemidji. The MLB record for home runs in a doubleheader is five, shared by Stan Musial and Nate Colbert. There's no information online of any college or pro player hitting seven homers in a doubleheader.

"I had three in a game for the Willmar Stingers in the Northwoods League, but never anything like this," Baier said afterward.

Loper

Baier, a three-sport athlete from Springfield, Minn., who won a state wrestling title, said the home run he hit hardest was the last one — a grand slam in the fifth inning of Game 2 that lifted his RBI total for the afternoon to 14.

U softball home win

Natalie DenHartog and Sydney Strelow hit solo homers and freshman Riley Costa, in her first two college at-bats, had an RBI double and two-run single to lead the Gophers to an 8-5 victory over Purdue in Big Ten softball.

This was the first game at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium in two years.

Amber Fiser got the win for Minnesota (13-4), giving up two earned runs and seven hits.

U baseball falls at Siebert

In their on-campus home opener, the Gophers baseball team lost 7-6 to Michigan State at Siebert Field after taking a 5-1 lead in the fourth inning.

Chase Stanke had a two-run double in Minnesota's four-run inning in the fourth. He also had an RBI infield single in the seventh.

The loss dropped Minnesota to 3-13 overall and in the Big Ten, the Spartans, who won on a run in the top of the ninth, are 7-7.

U gymnasts honored

Gophers Shane Wiskus, Donte McKinney and Crew Bold were named regular-season All-America gymnasts by the College Gymnastics Association.

Wiskus, a senior from Spring Park, earned the honors in five events, McKinney and Bold on high bar.

Wiskus has been named an All-America 14 times in his career; this is the first time for both McKinney and Bold. Regular-season All-America honors are given to the eight top-ranked gymnasts in each event.

All three will compete for Minnesota in the Big Ten Championships at 7 p.m. Saturday in Lincoln, Neb.

Etc.

• Allison Gerads set a Gophers program record in the long jump at the Big Ten Florida Invitational in Jacksonville, winning the event with a leap of 21 feet, 2 inches. Teammate Abigail Schaaffe won the 400-meter hurdles (59.59 seconds). On the men's side, freshman Kostas Zalatos won the hammer throw (218-1).

• Ish Jome, a Prairie Seeds Academy graduate and former Minnesota United defender, signed a one-year contract with the Portland Timbers of MLS.