Patrick Fredrickson tossed seven shutout innings and the No. 20-ranked Gopher baseball team slugged three home runs to claim a Big Ten Conference series victory with a 9-1 win over No. 15 Indiana on Saturday at Siebert Field.

No. 20 Minnesota (31-12, 13-3 Big Ten) scored three in the first when Luke Pettersen led off the game with a single, Riley Smith lifted a double, and both scored on a two-out ground-rule double off the bat of Toby Hanson. Hanson then came around to score on a double off the bat of Cole McDevitt.

Patrick Fredrickson (7-0) did not need any more insurance as he allowed just two hits in seven innings of work, striking out eight batters.

No. 15 Indiana (31-12, 9-7 Big Ten) would scrape across a run in the ninth inning against Fred Manke, who struck out one in the final two innings of work. “I had pretty good sequencing at times,” said Fredrickson. “I was struggling a little bit earlier on, but I got outs when I had to and threw enough good pitches, especially when they had some guys on. I’ve got some things to work on, but I made good pitches when I had to today.”

The Gophers got home runs from Terrin Vavra (6) in the fifth, Alex Boxwell (4) in the sixth, and Cole McDevitt (6) in the seventh.

Four different batters had multiple hits and seven different batters had at least one. Cam Beauchamp (4-1) lasted just 4.0 innings, allowing four runs on five hits, but did strike out five batters. The maroon and gold scored five more runs on six hits against three relievers.

Quotable

“We were consistent today, putting runs on the board in a lot of innings,” Fredrickson said. “It’s reassuring, but you have to try and pitch with the same mindset [regardless] because you can’t control how many runs the offense scores. You just have to do your job and try and prevent the other team from getting anything going early.

“We’re coming into every weekend confident and knowing that we have to win the series. Every guy is stepping up at times. We’re all just showing up and playing every day.”

Notable

Minnesota has now hit three or more home runs in three different games this season, the last time was  a four-home effort at Purdue on April 14.

Patrick Fredrickson set a new season high with his eight strikeouts.

Ben Mezzenga and Terrin Vavra each extended their team-leading six-game hitting streaks. Mezzenga has reached base in 16-straight games while Luke Pettersen has reached base in a team-leading 18-straight games.