Gophers wrestlers drop Badgers to end regular season

Patrick McKee earned a pin at 125 pounds to start the meet and the 12th-ranked Gophers wrestling team beat Wisconsin 28-12 Friday night at Maturi Pavilion to close the Big Ten regular season with its sixth victory in a row.

McKee pinned Eric Barnett in 4:47 and the Gophers (11-2, 6-2 Big Ten) won the first three weights to jump out to a 13-0 lead. Garrett Joles won via technical fall at 197 pounds, and Vance VomBaur (141), Michael Blockhus (157) and Bennett Tabor (heavyweight) earned major decisions vs. the Badgers (9-5, 3-4).

The Gophers head to College Park, Md., for the Big Ten championships March 9-10.

Thomas Gross pitched two perfect innings of relief in his Gophers baseball debut as the team outlasted Cal State Bakersfield 8-7 in 12 innings to open the season in Surprise, Ariz.

Gross, a senior from Minnetonka who spent last season at Creighton, struck out two.

Jake Larson drew a bases-loaded walk in the top of 12th inning to give the Gophers the lead for good.

Kris Hokenson was 3-for-7 for the Gophers, who had 11 hits but blew leads of 3-0, 5-3 and 7-5 by leaving 17 runners on base.

Sydney Strelow delivered a walk-off single as the Gophers beat Georgia Tech 12-11 after earlier losing to No. 5 Washington 12-4.

In the second game, Georgia Tech tied the score with four runs in the top of the seventh inning before Strelow made the Gophers a winner. Morgan DeBord homered and drove in three runs, and Jess Oakland and Addison Leschber each had three hits.

Gophers redshirt freshman Annie Nabwe threw 75 feet, 6¼ inches in the women’s weight throw at the Snowshoe Open at the University Field House, the final event of the indoor track and field regular season.