While the weather in Minnesota may have been frightful, the Badgers (3-5 Big Ten, 17-15 overall) look to rebound from last weekend’s shortened series against North Dakota (2-3 Big Sky, 3-20) Wednesday at home.
Wisconsin split its games Sunday with Minnesota (6-2 Big Ten, 28-5 overall), remaining No. 8 in Big Ten standings. The Badgers and No. 14 Gophers were scheduled to play a three-game series, but due to almost eight inches of snow covering the Twin Cities, they only played two Sunday. The Badgers beat the Gophers 2-1, while falling in the second game 3-0.
This is the Badgers’ third win over a ranked opponent, while previously beating Arizona and Northwestern.
Sophomores dominated the series for Wisconsin through solid play by left fielder Ashley Van Zeeland, who got hits in both games, and pitcher Taylor-Paige Stewart, who brought home a win for the Badgers. This was Stewart’s third win on the season.
Junior outfielder Marissa Mersch scored Wisconsin’s first runs of the series off a Gopher error in the fourth inning of the first game.
The Badgers took advantage of two more errors in the sixth to score the game-winning run, though Minnesota loaded the bases and ultimately lost the game on a fly ball to left field.
Wisconsin struggled to get off the ground in game two, getting its only two hits in the seventh inning.
The Gophers turned a double play to eliminate any threat of a Badger comeback.
Senior outfielder Mary Massei stands at 12th in the Big Ten conference in batting average, while junior outfielder Maria Van Abel is second in stolen bases with 17, only getting caught once.
North Dakota is coming off a losing series against Bowling Green, (0-3, 0-8) and will play Illinois-Chicago Tuesday before taking on the Badgers.
North Dakota is fifth in the Big Sky standings, and last in its conference in batting average, runs per game and fielding percentage. Senior outfielder Amanda Johnson and sophomore first baseman Emily Bell are leading the team in hitting with .338 and .331 batting averages, respectively.
The Badgers lead the series 5-1 over North Dakota since their first meeting in 2009. This will be the Badgers’ final non-conference series of the season.
