By: Charlie Armitz

The Gophers' season likely ended Friday with a 7-4 loss to Nebraska in their fourth game of the Big Ten tournament at Target Field.

Minnesota went 2-2 at the Big Ten tournament as the fourth seed, beating Illinois on Wednesday and Friday. But it scored only 12 runs in four games and didn't pitch its best when it needed to.

A loss to top seed Indiana on Thursday forced the Gophers into the losers' bracket, where it needed to win five games in three days to secure the tournament title. The tough schedule forced head coach John Anderson to start freshman Dalton Sawyer — who's normally a reliever — in Friday's second game.

"If you're in the losers' bracket and not one of the top two seeds, it takes a miracle to get through the thing and try to win the thing," Anderson said.

Sawyer allowed six runs in 3.2 innings against the Huskers, including a three-run home run to Pat Kelly. The rally started when Sawyer threw away a pickoff attempt. Later in the inning, he dropped the ball trying to throw home on a squeeze play attempt.

"He threw the pickoff ball away and let the game go … pretty fast for him," Anderson said. "He wasn't able to slow it down."

The Gophers answered with four runs in the fifth inning, including a three-run home run by Matt Halloran, but they didn't score after that.

Minnesota allowed more than three runs in an inning twice during the tournament — both in losses.

"We've said that — we've got to stay out of the big innings because we just don't have the offense," Anderson said.

The Gophers have scored four or fewer runs in 12 consecutive games. The offensive struggles nearly caused them to miss the Big Ten tournament at the end of the regular season.

Minnesota needed to win the tournament to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The team's RPI and strength of schedule is likely too weak to earn an at-large bid.