Go-Go Gophers

■ Minnesota Gophers, 2009: 16-9

Team BA: .313
Team ERA: 3.97
Boyd's World Pseudo-RPI: 20th (MU: 55th)
Boyd's World ISR: 32nd (MU 65th)
Boyd's World Strength of Schedule: 29th (MU 17th)

■ Minnesota is 16-4 in weekend games, 0-5 in midweek games. After using 4 different pitchers in their first four midweek losses, the Gophers tried a different strategy in last week's mid-week game against Northern Iowa: 7 pitchers. Shall we call him Jan Wholestaff? Whatever you call it, they still lost.

■ Gopher AJ Pettersen (Minnetonka, Minn.) was named co-Big Ten Player of the Week along with Indiana's AJ Dickerson on Monday, Apr. 6. Pettersen batted .533 with eight runs, six RBI, five walks and a .650 on-base percentage in four games last week. He was also 6-for-11 (.545) with six runs and five RBI in a series that saw the Golden Gophers win two of three over Ohio State.

■ MNDaily.com has a profile of AJ Petterson: Petterson not slowed by his size

When AJ Pettersen, a Minnetonka (Minn.) High School standout, popped up on his recruiting radar a few years ago, he was naturally skeptical.

“If you look at my teams historically, I haven’t been a fan of the small guy,” Anderson said. And Pettersen is small — 5-foot-9 small. For Anderson, that’s a red flag.

“If you study the game and look at players that go on to be successful at the highest levels, there aren’t a lot of AJ Pettersens running around,” Anderson said.

■ The Gophers' John Decker is also a football star for Minnesota, who reportedly may need to decide whether to return for his senior year as a football player if he gets drafted in June as a baseball player, according to Fanhouse.com:

"There's a greater chance of me coming back (to play football) for sure than me leaving," said Decker, who is batting .326. "When that day comes, I'm going to have to make a decision. I don't want to make a decision, but I have to. That will be something I will make with my family and people close to me. I'm getting some good advice, and I have good people around me, so I'll be fine when the time comes."

■ Minnesota dropped out of Baseball America's Top 25 this week, having snuck in at #25 the week before.

The Gophers posted their third straight .500 week, which included a big conference series win against an Ohio State team that entered the weekend with a 21-5 record. Sr. RHP Chauncy Handran (7 IP, 2 ER) earned his fifth win of the year Friday, as Minnesota handed Ohio State ace Alex Wimmers (6.2 IP, 10 H, 7 ER) his first loss of the season. Sr. RHP Tom Buske (6 IP, 2 ER) was a tough-luck loser Saturday. Sr. DH Matt Nohelty (3-for-5, 3 R, 2 RBI) extended his streak of games reaching base safely to 41 on Sunday, while Jr. 2B Derek McCallum (3-for-5, 2 R, 3 RBI) has driven in a run in 10 straight games.