Gophers baseball rallies to beat Indiana in Big Ten tournament opener – TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press

The Gophers need to win this week’s Big Ten baseball tournament to keep their season alive and make a second straight trip to the NCAA tournament.

They took the first step in that process Wednesday, beating sixth-seeded Indiana 5-4 in the first round of the double-elimination tournament in Bloomington, Ind.

Minnesota, the third seed, fell behind 4-1 when Indiana’s Matt Lloyd laced a two-RBI double in the top of the fifth.

But the Gophers rallied, with freshman Jordan Kozicky hitting a two-run homer in the fifth, senior Matt Stemper contributing a sacrifice fly in the sixth and sophomore Terrin Vavra delivering a two-out RBI single to give Minnesota the lead for good in the seventh.

Gophers closer Brian Glowicki recorded the final four outs for Minnesota, notching his school-record 16th save this season.

The win comes a year after Minnesota went winless in the tournament, despite entering as the regular-season champion and top seed.

“This is a huge win for us,” junior third baseman Micah Coffey told Big Ten Network. “Today, kind of with our backs up against the wall, it was fun to get a win. Fun to come in and play well enough to get a win and move on to tomorrow.”

Minnesota (34-19) will play either Michigan or Northwestern at 3 p.m. Thursday. The entire tournament is televised on Big Ten Network.