U baseball beats last-place Penn State to remain in first in Big Ten

The Gophers had 12 hits — all singles except for Ryan Abrahamson's double — and five walks in beating Penn State 7-3 in Big Ten baseball on Saturday in State College, Pa. Alec Crawford pitched the first seven innings, giving up all of the Nittany Lions' six hits and three runs, two earned, for the victory.

The Gophers (28-14, 11-3 Big Ten), who remain in first place in the conference, bunched their runs, scoring three in the second inning, two in the third and two in the fourth. Abrahamson, a third baseman, was 3-fot-5 with an RBI. Shortstop Michael Handel was 2-for-5 with two RBI.

Tyler Walker hit her 11th home run of the season, a walk-off shot in the eighth inning that gave the Gophers softball team a 1-0 victory over Indiana and a doubleheader sweep at Jane Sage Cowles Stadium.

The Gophers (32-16, 13-6 Big Ten) won the first game 8-0 in five innings. Sara Moulton pitched a two-hitter with seven strikeouts.

Catcher Kari Dorle hit a solo homer in the first inning for and ended the game with a run-scoring single in the fifth. Right fielder Kayla Wenner had a two-run homer.

St. Thomas, the No. 1 seed in the MIAC softball tournament, won twice to advance to Sunday's title game against either Bethel or Gustavus at Caswell Park in North Mankato. Both those teams are 3-1 in the double-elimination tournament, each losing to St. Thomas (37-5) on Saturday.

The Tommies beat Gustavus 8-0 in six innings as Kendra Bowe and Breezy Bannon combined on a three-hit shutout. Jenna Hoffman and Bianca Peterson both hit home runs.

Later, in the winners' bracket final, St. Thomas won 3-2 over Bethel in eight innings on Emily Gregory's walk-off homer. Four of the runs in the game came on homers. Angie Jackson and Cristina Masten hit homers for the Royals, Mary Rentz hit an earlier one for St. Thomas.

Gustavus and Bethel will meet at 9 a.m. Sunday, with the winner facing the Tommies at 11:30 a.m. and again at 2 p.m., if necessary.

• St. Thomas upset top seed St. Catherine 5-3 in the MIAC women's tennis tournament semifinals in St. Peter, Minn. Mary Allen of the Tommies won a key match at No. 2 singles, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. … Carleton beat host Gustavus 5-1 in the other semifinal as Bridget Doyle and Anne Lombardi both won three-set matches.