Minnesota Scene: U golfers in sixth at NCAA regional meet

The Gophers men's golf team was tied for sixth place with Wake Forest at 4 over par on Friday at the NCAA Raleigh (N.C.) regional after two of three rounds.

Freshman Jose Mendez, tied for first near the end of his first round early in the day, dropped back to eighth at the end of the day. He was at 3 under — five shots off the lead — after shooting a 4-under 67 his first round and a 72 his second for a 139 total.

Teammate Alex Gaugert, with a 69 his second round, was tied for 18th place at 142.

The top three teams separated themselves from the field. Georgia Tech was at 28 under, Washington at 12 under and Kentucky at 8 under. But then it got jumbled for fourth and fifth — important spots since the top five teams advance to the NCAA tournament.

The Gophers are six shots behind fifth place Florida State.

Indiana defeated the Gophers 7-3 in Big Ten baseball in Bloomington, Ind., to clinch an outright conference title.

The Hoosiers (37-13, 20-3 Big Ten) took a 4-1 lead on three runs in the fourth on Nick Ramos' RBI single and a throwing error that led to two more runners scoring. Gophers starter Ben Meyer gave up five runs in 4⅔ innings, but only two were earned.

• Jon Lehman of the Gophers took third in the weight throw (210 feet, 4 inches) in the Big Ten track and field meet at Purdue. Freshman Luca Wieland was fourth in the decathlon (3,771 points) after five events.

• The Saints defeated the Gary SouthShore RailCats 7-2 at Midway Stadium, scoring three runs in the sixth to break a 2-all tie. Willie Cabrera had a solo homer in that inning and Joe Bonfe a two-run double. Rob Coe pitched six innings for the victory, allowing two runs on five hits.

• No. 6-ranked St. Thomas struck for seven runs in its first at-bat and led 11-0 early in a 11-5 defeat of Buena Vista (Iowa) in Friday night's winners' bracket game at the NCAA Division III baseball playoffs in Moline, Ill. Sophomore DH Waylon Bemboom had three hits and three RBI. Each Tommie starter had at least one hit. Eric Vehlahn allowed one earned run, five hits and two walks and struck out 10 in seven innings to improve to 8-0 on the season. He left with an 11-2 lead. St. Thomas (35-7), winner of 10 in a row, will play DePauw (25-19) on Saturday.

• DePauw scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to edge St. Scholastica 6-5 on Friday in the NCAA Division III regional in Moline. The loss eliminated the Saints (20-12), who scored two runs in the eighth to tie the score at 5-all. Third baseman Brian Minks' single drove home the first run, the second scored on an error. Minks was 3-for-3 with two RBI.

• Marisa Toivonen of Augustana was tied for fourth place — two shots off the lead — after three rounds of the NCAA Division II women's golf championship in Conover, N.C. Her third round of 72 gave the sophomore from Red Wing a 219 total.