The Maryland Terrapins (28-17, 8-10) relied on Joey McMannis and Sam Hojnar on Sunday for a rubber-match win over the Illinois Fighting Illini (25-15, 11-4) at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium.

Joey McMannis set the tone in the top of the first. Maryland’s starter retired Illinois’ first three hitters in order with two strikeouts.

The offense built off of his momentum in the bottom half of the inning.

After Eddie Hacopian got picked off in a rundown, his brother Chris delivered for Maryland. Hacopian got a hanging slider from Illini starter Jake Rons, and he took Illinois’ senior righty deep to leftfield to give the Terps the 1-0 lead.

Sam Hojnar continued the offensive attack with a double, and Brayden Martin drove him in on a double of his own. Maryland led 2-0 after one inning.

“He’s red hot the last month and a half,” head coach Matt Swope said of Hojnar. “I think he kind of started slow but you’re seeing everything kind of tick up right now.”

The Illini got one back in the second.

Joey McMannis gave up a pair of singles to Vytas Valincius and Jacob Schroeder to give Illinois runners on the corners. He recovered to get a couple of outs, but Coltin Quagliano made the Terps pay for their early inning struggles. Illinois’ third baseman singled to center to drive in a run and halve the Maryland lead.

The Terps chased the Fighting Illini’s starter in the second.

Jake Rons surrendered a single to Michael Iannazzo and walked Devin Russell to start the inning. He got an out on a sacrifice bunt from Elijah Lambros, but he was Rons’ final batter. 

Rons would end up getting tagged for a third run, as Eddie Hacopian drove in Michael Iannazzo on an RBI groundout. The Fighting Illini’s righty finished with three runs on five hits with one walk and zero strikeouts in just 1.1 innings.

Maryland continued the offensive onslaught against the Illini bullpen. Lefthander Regan Hall returned to the mound for Illinois in the third. His first batter of the inning was Sam Hojnar, who hit a long, solo shot to right field to extend the Maryland lead.

Hall continued to flounder after that home run.

He surrendered a single to Kevin Keister and walked Michael Iannazzo to put two runners on base for Devin Russell. Maryland’s catcher pulled through, hitting a bloop single to left to give the Terps their fifth run of the afternoon.

Hall followed with a walk to Elijah Lambros to load the bases, and Illinois was forced to go to the bullpen again. Will Lavin was the next call for the Illini.

Lavin did not fare much better in the third. His first batter of the afternoon was Eddie Hacopian, who hit a bloop single of his own to drive in two more for the Terps. He struck out Chris Hacopian to end the nightmare inning for Illinois, but Maryland did their damage. The Terps had a 7-1 lead after three.

The Fighting Illini got one back in the fourth. Vytas Valincius got the better of Joey McMannis, launching a home run to left-center field to bring home Illinois’ second run of the game. McMannis shook off the blemish, holding the Illini to just the one run in the fourth.

Illinois kept chipping away in the fifth.

Connor Milton led off with a long ball over the batter’s eye to cut Maryland’s lead down to four. Then back-to-back singles from Cal Hejza and Camden Janik and a Drake Westcott walk gave the Fighting Illini the bases loaded with no outs.

Vytas Valincius continued his excellent outing with a sacrifice fly to bring home another run for Illinois. The Illini loaded the bases again when Joey McMannis plunked Ryan Moerman with a fastball, but he escaped the jam with a strikeout of Jacob Schroeder and a groundout of Brody Harding.

That was McMannis’ final inning of work. Maryland’s freshman went five innings with four runs on seven hits and four K’s. However, two of the seven hits were solo home runs.

“They weren’t hitting the two-seam at all,” Swope said of McMannis’ outing. “If they can’t hit the two-seam, then you keep throwing it.”

Evan Smith was Maryland’s first call to the bullpen.

The freshman southpaw struck out his first two batters, but lost some command afterward. Smith walked three straight batters to load the bases for Illinois, but he recovered with a soft grounder to escape the inning unscathed.

Smith kept up his rhythm in the seventh. He sent Ryan Moerman down looking with a fastball, then forced back-to-back groundouts to post a 1-2-3 inning.

After three dormant innings on the scoresheet, the Terps had watched their six-run cushion dwindle to three. The Maryland offense woke back up in the bottom of the seventh.

Brayden Martin led off the inning with a double off the centerfield wall, then advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Jacob Orr. He scored on a sharp Kevin Keister groundout, giving the Terps an 8-4 lead.

That run proved to be crucial in the eighth.

Evan Smith came out for his third inning and loaded the bases for Illinois on two singles and a walk. Valincius again delivered for the Fighting Illini, clearing the bases with a double to the right field wall. The Terps saw their once six-run advantage shrink to just one.

Maryland blew the game open in the bottom of the inning.

Redshirt senior Joe Glassey took the mound for the Fighting Illini in the one-run game. He hit Elijah Lambros and Eddie Hacopian to put two runners on for the Terps. The crowd got tense after Chris Hacopian flew out to center, giving Maryland two outs as Sam Hojnar stepped up to the plate.

Hojnar stayed hot. The Terps’ second baseman launched a moonshot over the batter’s eye in straightaway centerfield, handing Maryland an 11-7 lead going into the ninth.

“Yeah, I kind of had a rougher day at the plate yesterday so I was just trying to get back to the basics,” Hojnar said about his batting approach for the day. “He gave me the kind of elevated fastball that I was looking for, so I just put the bat on it, scaled it up.”

Logan Berrier got the ball in the ninth.

The Terps’ closer retired three straight hitters to polish off the series win for Maryland, their first Big Ten series win in over a month.

“It’s a good series win, for me, I thought we just competed the whole weekend,” Swope said. “Just like I’ve given them credit for all season, they kept fighting and they stayed positive.”