“That’s one thing that we kind of pride ourselves in; playing good defense and making routine plays,” head coach Jake Boss Jr. said. “Fortunately our guys made some plays today that weren’t routine and I think that happens with confidence.”

The win was Boss’ 100th as a head coach.

The Spartans opened the scoring right from the get-go. Senior outfielder Brandon Eckerle led-off the game with a double, advanced on a base hit from Jones and scored on a sacrifice fly from sophomore infielder Torsten Boss to give MSU an early 1-0 lead.

Neither team would score again until the fifth inning, as both starting pitchers performed well. In the fifth, MSU freshman catcher Joel Fisher hit a one-out double and scored in the next at-bat as freshman outfielder Jeff Kinley brought him home with a single into center field.

Eckerle nearly hit into a double play in the next at-bat, but he beat out the throw to first, which would turn out to be a key play. Up next, Jones hit a single and senior first baseman Jeff Holm brought in two runners with a triple to deep center field to extend MSU’s lead to 4-0.

“That’s a deep part of the park,” Holm said of the hit. “I’ve been caught there a couple times at some parks so I decided to just put my head down and run.”

Eckerle, Jones and Holm —MSU’s first three hitters — each went 2-for-4

In the bottom of the fifth, Minnesota got the leadoff man on. The next batter, infielder Kyle Geason hit a ball into shallow left field, where Keur made a diving catch. The Gophers would hit into a double play in the next at-bat.

Senior pitcher Kurt Wunderlich had another great outing. He gave up four hits in the first six innings before getting into trouble in the seventh inning. Minnesota’s leadoff batter was walked and, with two outs, a single and walk loaded the bases.

Two runs came home on a single by infielder Dan Olinger and Wunderlich was pulled.

A walk from sophomore pitcher Tony Wieber loaded the bases again, but Minnesota outfielder Andy Henkemeyer lined out to end the threat.

Wunderlich gave up six hits and two runs and struck out six in 6 2/3 innings, as he moved to 6-1 on the season.

“I felt really good today,” Wunderlich said. “Just commanded everything, threw for strikes, got ahead in counts; it just felt good.”

Getting the series-opening win always is key, Boss Jr. said. The Spartans and Gophers will play at 1:05 p.m. Saturday at McLane Baseball Stadium.

“If you want to win a series, Friday is an important game,” Boss Jr. said. “You put yourself in a good position to win the series. Tomorrow’s a big day.”