Rolling into their weekend series against Minnesota, the Scarlet Knights were hoping to catch the Golden Gophers at a lull, and improve their standing in the Big Ten Conference. After all, the Gophers were just 21-20 on the season, and like the Scarlet Knights, Minnesota was 8-6 in conference play.

Led by Morgan DeBord and Jess Oakland on offense, the Gophers looked to stop the surging Scarlet Knights and hoped that their home field (where they were 4-1 this season) would work to their advantage.

GAME ONE: Where would the Scarlet Knights be without Mattie Boyd? Facing a bases-loaded situation in the bottom of the sixth inning with a 2-0 advantage, Mattie Boyd got junior Nani Valencia to line out and freshman Brooklyn Jones to foul out, to preserve the lead as the Knights scratched out win in the series opener against the Gophers.

The game had been a pitchers’ duel through five innings, until RBI singles by Katie Wingert and Leilani Chavez in the top of the sixth put the Scarlet Knights up 2-0.

Rutgers added an important insurance run in the top of the seventh when Maddie Lawson drew a bases-loaded walk to extend the lead to 3-0. Minnesota starting pitcher Jacie Hambrick was able to pitch out of the jam, limiting the damage to just one run as the game went to the bottom of the seventh.

But Boyd was having none of it, and there would be no late-inning heroics for the Golden Gophers. It may have taken 125 pitches, but Boyd would collect her sixteenth complete game of the season as she led the Scarlet Knights to a 3-0 victory on Friday night.

The Knight Report’s three stars of the game:

First star of the game: Mattie Boyd. Seven-inning complete game shutout victory, two strikeouts, six hits allowed.

Second star of the game: Jillian Anderson. 2-for-3, one run scored.

Third star of the game: Maddie Lawson. 1-for-3, walk, one RBI.

GAME TWO: Minnesota freshman Macy Richardson entered the circle to start game two on Saturday, with Morgan Smith going for Rutgers.

Two errors by the Scarlet Knight infield, a wild pitch and a walk quickly put Rutgers in a tight spot in the bottom of the first. An RBI single gave the Gophers an early lead, 1-0, but it appeared that RU would get out of the inning with minimal damage when Smith struck out Addison Leschber. But a bases clearing triple by Delanie Cox gave the Gophers a 4-0 lead after just one inning.

The Knights came right back in the second inning, loading the bases with no outs. However, Richardson got two soft ground balls that produced force outs at the plate before Jillian Anderson was finally able to remove the goose egg for Rutgers with an RBI single.

Minnesota picked up another run in the second, two more in the third, and one in the fourth to extend their lead to 8-1. In fact, it was not until the Knights put Laurelai DePew in the circle in the bottom of the fifth that a Rutgers pitcher finally held Minnesota scoreless.

The Knights rallied with two of their own in the sixth and three in the seventh, but it was too little, too late, as Minnesota took game two, 9-6.

The Knight Report’s three stars of the game:

First star of the game: Katie Wingert. 2-for-3, double, sacrifice, two RBIs, one run scored.

Second star of the game: Payton Lincavage. 3-for-3, walk, one run scored, three assists, two putouts.

Third star of the game: Jillian Anderson. 1-for-3, one RBI.

GAME THREE: Sunday’s final game of the series featured a pitching rematch between Hambrick for Minnesota and Boyd for Rutgers.

After going down 1-0, the Knights came right back in the top of the third when Kayla Bock first reached second base on an error by Valencia in right field. That brought up Anderson, who deadened a pitch from Hambrick, laying down a perfect, slow-rolling bunt down the third base line that moved Bock to third with one out. From there, Kyleigh Sand launched a sacrifice fly to center field that scored Bock, tying the game, 1-1.

Rutgers took the lead 2-1 in the top of the fifth off L.A. Matthews’ RBI single. After Hambrick then loaded the bases, Minnesota head coach Piper Ritter removed her starter in favor of Richardson.

Despite a subsequent fielding error, the Gophers were able to keep the damage to a minimum, allowing RU just one additional run that made the score 3-1.

Boyd pitched out of trouble in the fifth, and Rutgers broke the game open in the sixth, adding three more on their way to a 6-1 victory. The win allowed the Scarlet Knights to move ahead of Minnesota in the Big Ten standings as they continue their current road trip.

The Knight Report’s three stars of the game:

First star of the game: Mattie Boyd. Seven-inning complete game victory, six strikeouts, no earned runs.

Second star of the game: Kyleigh Sand. 3-for-3, sacrifice, two RBIs, two runs scored.

Third star of the game: L.A. Matthews. 2-for-4, double, walk, three RBIs.

The fifth-inning single by Sand in game two was the two hundredth hit of her career, becoming just the fifth RU player to reach that milestone.

Boyd has now thrown four straight complete games, seventeen on the season, and now sports a 17-7 record with a 2.19 ERA.

After having been a standout in the field this season, Anderson has been steadily improving at the plate, and head coach Kristen Butler may soon look to move the redshirt junior up in the lineup, out of the number nine hole.

The Rutgers road trip continues through the Midwest as their next stop is in East Lansing to take on Michigan State. The Spartans are having a down year, with an overall record under .500 and an even worse conference winning percentage.

Sophomores Hannah Hawley and Britain Beshears lead the Spartans in most major offensive categories this season, while senior Liv Grey is clearly the ace of their pitching staff. Game one of the RU-MSU series begins Friday, April 26 at 3:00 p.m. The games will be carried on the Big Ten Plus network.