The Gophers extended their winning streak to 15 games by beating Nebraska 8-3 on Saturday in Big Ten softball in Lincoln behind hot-hitting Tyler Walker.
The senior shortstop hit a solo homer in the fifth inning that gave No. 12 Minnesota (29-4, 5-0 Big Ten) a 4-3 lead. Then in the sixth, she doubled to drive in two more runs. Walker has six homers in her past six games. Since March 8, when she was hitting .257, Walker has raised her average to .349.
Hannah Granger had a two-run double in the third for the Gophers and Danielle Parlich a two-run single in the seventh.
Freshman Kylie Stober (6-1) started for the Gophers and went four-plus innings. Nikki Anderson relieved her and Sara Groenewegen came in in the seventh with two on and nobody out and retired the Cornhuskers (17-14, 5-2) without damage.
U baseball falls in 13th
Northwestern edged the Gophers 2-1 in 13 innings on Saturday in Big Ten baseball at Siebert Field. The go-ahead run scored after a walk, a single and an error.
Until then, the pitching staffs of both teams dominated. After a scoreless first inning, both team got a run in the second. The Wildcats (6-19, 1-1) scored without a hit on a hit batter, a walk and two sacrifice bunts.
Minnesota (8-14, 1-4) answered as Toby Hanson doubled and later came home on Tony Skjefte's sacrifice fly.
Starting pitchers Toby Anderson for Minnesota and Joe Schindler for Northwestern each allowed one run in six innings of work. Reed Mason (1-6) took over for Schindler and got the win with nine strikeouts in six shutout innings.
