Minnesota Scene: Gophers win home games in baseball, softball

Jordan Smith hit a two-run homer in the fifth inning to lead the Gophers over Nebraska 5-3 on Saturday in Big Ten baseball at Siebert Field.

Smith's fifth homer of the season made it 5-2 Minnesota (23-11, 8-3 Big Ten) in the third inning. Reliever Reggie Meyer got the victory with 3 ⅔ scoreless innings. Nebraska fell to 22-15-1, 6-4-1.

Maddie Houlihan hit a two-run homer and had three RBI and Dani Wagner hit a solo shot as the No. 5 Gophers routed Iowa 9-1 in five innings in Big Ten softball.

Minnesota's quickest game of the season — 1 hour, 10 minutes — drew 1,187, the fourth-largest crowd ever at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium.

Freshman Amber Fiser (10-0) got the win, giving up one run and four hits in four innings. Minnesota (42-3, 15-1 Big Ten) won its 13th game in a row.

The Gophers added another wide receiver to their 2018 recruiting class when Detroit native Erik Gibson gave them a verbal commitment.

The 6-2, 195-pound Gibson, from Detroit's Martin Luther King High School, is a consensus three-star recruit who also had reported offers from Ball State, Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan.

Michigan State's Sarah Burnham, a junior from Maple Grove, shot a conference-record. 9-under 63 in the second round of the Big Ten women's golf championship in Maineville, Ohio, to take a four-stroke lead.

Burnham's round gave her a 136 total at PTC River's Bend. She had six birdies in a row on the front nine.

Gophers senior Emie Peronnin was tied for second at 140 after her second 70. Minnesota was in eighth place as a team.

The Gophers men's gymnastics team finished fifth in the NCAA meet at Army with a score of 414.200. It was the first top-five finish for coach Mike Burns' team since 2002. Oklahoma (431.950) won the national title.

Four gymnasts for Minnesota earned All-America honors: Tristan Duran in parallel bars and high bar (tied for eighth in both), Zach Liebler in floor exercise (tied for sixth), Vitali Kan in vault (eighth) and Jalon Stephens in high bar (tied for third).

• Jon Tollefson of the Gophers won the 110 hurdles (14.20) at Stanford's Cardinal Classic, Ryan Lockard won the high jump (7-¼), and the 4x100 and 4x400 relays also took first place.

• Senior Coley Ries of Minnesota State Mankato pitched a perfect game, with 15 strikeouts, as the Mavericks beat Northern State 4-0 in softball. It also was her 100th career win.