Jess Oakland homered twice and hit a walkoff sacrifice fly in the seventh inning to lift the Gophers softball team to a 6-5 victory over Indiana on Saturday at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium, ending the Hoosiers' 23-game winning streak.
The Gophers (22-15, 3-5 Big Ten) rallied from a 5-1 deficit to hand Indiana (30-10, 9-1) its first loss since March 5, a nonconference loss against Wisconsin. The winning streak had been tied for second-longest active streak in the nation behind Oklahoma. which has won 28 in a row.
Oakland, who led off the second inning with a homer, hit a two-run shot in the fourth to pull the Gophers within 5-3. Natalie DenHartog hit a two-out RBI double in the fifth inning, and Delanie Cox tied the score on a fielder's choice in the sixth.
In the seventh, Kayla Chavez reached second to start the inning on a two-base error by Indiana third baseman Brianna Copeland, The Gophers loaded the bases before Oakland's one-out fly to right drove in Chavez with the winning run.
U baseball routed
Jake Jarvis homered and drove in five runs and Purdue routed the Gophers baseball team 15-3 at Siebert Field.
Jarvis' fourth-inning leadoff homer started the scoring for the Boilermakers (14-15, 5-3 Big Ten), who scored three runs in the fourth, one in the fifth and three in the sixth before breaking the game open late.
Easton Fritcher, Sam Hunt and Brady Jurgella drove in ninth-inning runs for the Gophers (7-22, 2-3).
Kicker joining Gophers
David Kemp, a placekicker who spent the past two seasons with Memphis, announced on Twitter that he is transferring to the Gophers.
