Twins Best White Sox, Norsemen and Lumberjacks Return to Action

The Minnesota Twins earned a big divisional win over the White Sox in Chicago, while the St. Cloud Norsemen and Granite City Lumberjacks each earned their first wins of the season on Friday. The Gopher and Bison football teams will look to stay undefeated when they take the field for their week three matchups on Saturday.

RECAPS:

- The Norsemen beat Chippewa 2-1 to earn their first win of the season. St. Cloud took the lead in the opening period and never lost it. Peyton Mithmuangneua and Braden Panzer each netted one for St. Cloud. Ryan Manzella made 25 saves and allowed one goal in the win. The Norsemen are now 1-2 and will visit the Springfield Jr. Blues on Saturday. Puck drop is set for 3:00 p.m.

- The Lumberjacks topped Rochester 2-1 on the road in their season opener Friday. The Grizzlies took a 1-0 lead in the opening period. After a scoreless second, Granite City knocked in two in the third to rally for the win. Tommy Woods and Hayden Johnson each scored once for the Jacks. Anyon Bennett and Sam Schowalter combined for 33 saves and one goal allowed. The Lumberjacks move to 1-0 and will host the Grizzlies in game two of the home-and-home series on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.

- The Twins topped the White Sox 10-2 on the road to extend their lead in the series to 2-0 on Friday. After a scoreless first inning, the Twins caught fire in the top of the second. Royce Lewis hit his fourth grand slam of the year to give the team a nice lead. Matt Wallner extended Minnesota's lead to 5-0 in the top of the third with an RBI single. In the top of the fourth, Max Kepler hit an RBI single to make it 6-0. Chicago finally found an answer in the bottom of the fifth, closing the gap to 6-2 with a two-run homer from Elvis Andrus. Things cooled for both teams for the next few innings. In the top of the ninth, Minnesota put it out of reach for good. Carlos Correa hit an RBI double, Willi Castro hit an RBI single, and Ryan Jeffers hit a two-run single. Bailey Ober struck out six batters and allowed two runs on five hits in the first five innings. The bullpen combined for seven strikeouts and two hits in the remaining four innings. Lewis set a franchise record with four grand slams in a single season. Lewis also made league history with the hit. He is the first player to hit five grand slams in his first 16 home runs and the first to hit four grand slams in as few as 18 games. The Twins improve to 78-70 and the White Sox fall to 56-92 with just over two weeks remaining in the regular season. The series will continue with game three in Chicago on Saturday. Pre-game coverage starts at 5:30 p.m. on AM 1240 and 95.3 FM WJON.

PREVIEWS:

- The Gophers (2-0) will visit no. 20 North Carolina (2-0) in the first-ever matchup between the two programs on Saturday. Minnesota is looking to start the season 3-0 for the fifth time in seven under coach P. J. Fleck, while the Tar Heels are currently 2-0 for the fourth time in five seasons under coach Mack Brown. This is Minnesota's first road game of the year and NC's second home game. Pre-game coverage begins at 12:30 p.m. on AM 1390 and 93.9 FM KXSS.

- The no. 2 Bison (2-0) will close out non-conference play when they host Central Arkansas (1-1) on Saturday. This is the second matchup between the teams. North Dakota beat the Bears 39-28 back in 2020. Kick-off is set for 2:30 p.m. in Fargo.