The Maryland Terrapins are Big Ten Tournament Champions for the first time in school history.

Last season, after winning the conference regular season, the Terps saw their season end in heartbreak, losing in the second round of the tournament.

This time around, it was triumph for the Terps. After beating Michigan State in round one and then Nebraska in back-to-back games, the Terps beat the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Championship game, 4-0. They’re the first team since Minnesota in 2018 to win both the Big Ten regular season and the tournament. 

Although the Terps were considered the home team, they were once again playing in an away atmosphere. Just like Nebraska fans, Iowa fans packed Charles Schwab Field in Omaha. However, it made no difference to the Terps. 

For the first four and a half innings, it was a defensive battle between the two sides, led by the bullpens. The teams combined for five hits and each was already onto their third pitcher of the game. 

In the bottom of the fifth, the Terps broke the standstill with a two-run homer off the bat of Kevin Keister, who watched as his friend Logan Ott caught his deep fly in Maryland’s bullpen. 

Just a few batters later, Nick Lorusso extended the lead to three with a solo shot of his own, his second of the tournament. The hit ended an unusual cold streak for the Big Ten RBI leader. 

The Terps’ offensive success in the fifth inning came against Jack Whitlock, arguably Iowa’s best relief pitcher. They ran him out of the game and handed him his first loss of the season. 

In the next inning, Eddie Hacopian continued his impressive run at the plate with a double, his second hit of the game. He would remain at second until a single to left center by Jacob Orr brought him home, cementing the lead at 4-0. Hacopian would finish as the only Terp to record multiple hits.

It was yet again a phenomenal effort by Maryland’s pitching staff. Ryan Van Buren, who earned the starting nod, worked his way out of jams in the first two innings. Andrew Johnson also got himself into a jam, but was able to keep the Hawkeyes off the board.

The true heroes of the day were Kenny Lippman and David Falco Jr. Lippman finished his afternoon with three hitless innings, which also featured him striking out two. His effort earned him his eighth win of the season. Falco came in early to close things out for the Terps, allowing one hit and striking out two in the final two and two-thirds. 

“We can pitch, too,” said Falco on the Big Ten Network broadcast after the game. 

With their victory, the Terps have earned an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, which begins next weekend. Now, the squad awaits to hear where they’ll be playing in the regionals.

The Maryland Terrapins are bound for the Big Ten Championship game.

After their walk-off win over the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Thursday night, the Terps found themselves in a favorable position: have two chances to win one game to earn a title game birth. 

Fortunately, they wouldn’t need that second chance. In the rematch, the Terps once again bested Nebraska, eliminating them with a 4-2 victory. The Terps advance to face the No. 3 seed Iowa Hawkeyes in the title game on Sunday. 

The Terps faced the tall task of having to play the Cornhuskers in front of a Nebraska-dominated crowd in Omaha for the second time. But this time, the Terps dominated from the start, quickly silencing the normally raucous Cornhusker-faifthful. 

The Terps took an early lead in the second inning following back-to-back perfectly placed bunts by Elijah Lambros and Jacob Orr, driving in Eddie Hacopian, before a line drive by Kevin Keister down the left field line brought in Matt Woods and Lambros. 

The Terps would hold onto that three-run lead until Hacopian left the yard in the fifth, extending the lead to four runs. The first baseman stepped up in a big way for the squad, finishing the day two-for-four with two extra base hits, two runs scored, and an RBI. 

Orr and Kevin Keister would also contribute heavily, the former going three-for-four while the latter drove in two runs. All three could not have picked a better time to have excellent games, as the top of the lineup struggled in unorthodox fashion. 

The real hero of the game, however, was pitcher Jason Savacool. Maryland’s ace earned the starting nod from Rob Vaughn following his relief work in the 10th inning of Thursday’s game. The junior could not have picked a better time to have one of his best performances in a Maryland uniform. He finished the day with no earned runs over six innings pitched, with four hits, two walks, and six strikeouts. He moves to 8-5 on the season. 

Kenny Lippman was also phenomenal in relief. He too shut the Cornhuskers down for two innings, not allowing a hit and striking out three. 

It wouldn’t be a Terps game without a little drama though, would it? In the bottom of the ninth, Nigel Belgrave walked three consecutive batters to load up the bases and put the tying run at the plate. 

Vaughn called on Andrew Johnson to finish the game instead. The Cornhuskers would get two across off of one hit and one sacrifice fly, but a massive strikeout and a fly ball to right field ended it for the Terps, earning Johnson his first save of the season. 

With their third victory of the tournament in the books, the Terps are championship-bound for just the second time since joining the Big Ten. This is their first birth since 2015, but this time, they’ll be looking to end up in the win column.

The Dirty Terps live to see another day.

When neither the Terps nor the Cornhuskers could escape with the win in nine innings, Nick Lorusso took it upon himself to seal the win for Maryland in extra innings. The Big Ten RBI king hit a walkoff one-run shot in the bottom of the 10th to advance Maryland to the semifinals.

The Terps overcame the Cornhuskers in a defensive battle that leaked into extra innings, 2-1.

Following their first round victory over the Michigan State Spartans on Tuesday evening, the Terps faced a tough task: facing the No. 4 seed Cornhuskers while playing in Omaha. Although Maryland was officially considered the home team, it certainly did not feel like a home game. The stands were packed with local Cornhusker fans who were loud all night long. 

The Cornhuskers took an early lead in the second when right fielder Cole Evans delivered a sacrifice ground out to score catcher Josh Caron. They would hold onto that lead until the fifth, when the Terps used a double from Kevin Keister and an RBI single from Matt Shaw to tie the game at one.

The two teams remained deadlocked at one run apiece for the next few hours – which included a lightning delay which lasted an hour and a half. Neither pitching staff wanted to give in. 

Maryland skipper Rob Vaughn gave the starting nod to Nick Dean, who delivered his best performance of the season. He finished his day with one earned run over six and one-third inning pitched, with two hits, two walks, and five strikeouts. David Falco Jr. came on to replace him after the rain delay, shutting the Cornhuskers out for two and two-third innings using four strikeouts. 

When the Terps got to extra innings, Vaughn made the decision to turn to ace Jason Savacool, who used two strikeouts in the top of the tenth to earn his seventh win of the season. Then, it came down to the offense. 

The Terps entered the bottom of the tenth with a distinct advantage – their big three of Luke Shliger, Matt Shaw, and Lorusso were up to bat. Although Shliger and Shaw could not deliver, Lorusso sent one over the left field wall with two outs and a two-two count, giving the Terps the win and the chance to advance to the finals on Saturday. It was his 22nd homer of the year and 98th RBI of the year, neither of which could have come at more clutch of a time. 

The Terps will have a rematch on their hands come Saturday, no matter who comes out on top in the loser’s bracket. They will face the winner of the Michigan State/Nebraska game, which takes place tomorrow. However, since the Terps have not lost, they’ll have two opportunities to advance to the finals if necessary.

The Dirty Terps are moving on to the winner’s bracket of the Big Ten Tournament.

After capturing the Big Ten regular season title on Saturday with their series victory over Penn State, the Terps traveled to Omaha, Nebraska for a round one matchup with the Michigan State Spartans.

In a low-scoring battle, the Terps came out on top over the Spartans, 3-2, thanks to some late-game heroics from Luke Shliger and clutch pitching from David Falco Jr. out of the bullpen.

On Tuesday morning, the Big Ten announced its selections for All-Big Ten teams and players, and the Terps were heavily represented. Head Coach Rob Vaughn was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year, and shortstop Matt Shaw was named the Big Ten Player of the Year. Shaw was also named to the Big Ten First Team, along with Shliger and Nick Lorusso. Jason Savacool and Ian Petrutz were given nods to the second team, while Nick Dean and Elijah Lambros earned bids to the third team. 

In a very atypical fashion, the squad struggled heavily on offense. The team accrued only five hits, with four coming from the top three lineup members. Jacob Orr was the only member of the lineup outside of the top three to record a hit, but he was responsible for the game-winning run.

Shliger led the effort overall, going two for three with two doubles, a walk, and a clutch RBI to drive Orr in during the bottom of the eighth. Lorusso and Petrutz both recorded an RBI apiece with deep flyouts that scored Shliger and Shaw in the first. 

Despite the poor showing from the offense, Maryland’s defense could not have picked a better time to have one of its best showings all season. The Terps used five separate double plays to end innings with runners in scoring position, four of which came in a row. In the fifth inning, Shaw made an insane diving grab in the shallow outfield, proceeding to throw it to second in a very heads-up play. 

The Terps’ defense also had to battle inconsistencies on the mound. Freshman Kyle McCoy was given the starting nod by Vaughn today after missing two and a half weeks with an injury, but he was taken out after just 0.2 innings. It’s unknown whether it was injury-related or a strategic move by Vaughn after McCoy had already given up a run. 

Kenny Lippman came in and pitched well in relief, putting a few runners in scoring position but not allowing a run in 3.1 innings. David Falco Jr. earned his fourth win of the season by also shutting out the Spartans in the final 2.2 innings. 

With the victory, the Terps move on to the second round and will face the winner of Nebraska/Rutgers on Thursday at 6 p.m.

The Dirty Terps are back-to-back outright Big Ten Champions.

Following Indiana’s loss on Friday night to Michigan State, the Terps earned the championship, but with the chance to share it with the Hoosiers if the Terps lost and the Hoosiers won on Saturday. 

However, there will be no sharing in College Park for the second consecutive year. The Terps beat the Penn State Nittany Lions in game three on Saturday, 7-4. Along with clinching the title, they extend their Big Ten series win streak to 23. They’ll enter Omaha as the first seed, with the first game set for Tuesday. 

The Terps’ offense was humming in the finale with contributions from the entire lineup. Along with the title being captured and the win streak being extended, two Maryland players set new records, forever cementing their place in Maryland baseball history.

Catcher Luke Shliger scored his 182nd career run, the most in program history. He passed assistant coach Matt Swope, who had 181 in his time playing for the Terps from 1999-2002. 

With his two RBIs today, third baseman Nick Lorusso ended his regular season with 96 RBIs, the most RBIs by a single player in any program in Big Ten history. 

Penn State jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the second inning off the bat of designated hitter CJ Pittaro, whose triple brought shortstop Jay Harry across. The next inning, the Terps evened it up after Ian Petrutz flew out, bringing Shliger across. 

In the fourth, Matt Woods finally ended the series’ home run drought, sending one over the right field wall to give the Terps a 2-1 lead. However, Penn State quickly responded, plating three runs in the same inning to retake the lead. 

In the sixth, the Terps would tie the game with a clutch home run to left field off the bat of Elijah Lambros, scoring Woods once again. This time, they wouldn’t surrender any runs. 

In the eighth, Jacob Orr delivered a clutch one-out triple that was two feet away from being a home run. Despite that, the Terps used the fuel to muster three runs, with clutch hits to the outfield from Kevin Keister and Lorusso to give the lead back to the Terps – a lead they would not let go of. 

On the defensive side, the Terps overcame four errors in route to victory, mostly thanks to the work of the bullpen. Andrew Johnson, Kenny Lippman, and David Falco Jr. all shined in relief of Ryan Van Buren. The three completely shut out the Penn State offense for the final 5.1 innings. Lippman earned the win, finishing the season 7-1, while Falco earned the save, his ninth of the season. 

The Terps finish the season with a 37-19 record, with a 17-7 record in conference play. On Tuesday, they begin their quest to earn the official Big Ten title in Omaha, looking for a reprieve from last season’s disappointing end.

Hopes were very high for the Dirty Terps on Saturday. 

Following the Terps’ wild come-from-behind victory and a loss from the Indiana Hoosiers on Friday night, Maryland earned the chance to clinch a share of the Big Ten title if they achieved a victory over Penn State on Saturday. 

Unfortunately for the Terps, the Nittany Lions played spoiler, erasing a nine-game losing streak by coming out on top, 5-3. 

Because of victories from the Terps and the Iowa Hawkeyes on Friday night, what started as a six-team race for the Big Ten title quickly reduced to three, as Nebraska, Rutgers, and Michigan were eliminated. Entering Sunday, only the Terps, Hoosiers, and Hawkeyes remain. The winner will be anointed tomorrow depending on the outcome of the three games.

The Terps came into the game with a lot of energy, as they found themselves in the driver’s seat of the conference with their ace, Jason Savacool, set to take the mound. However, Savacool struggled and Maryland’s bats were unable to do enough to get the Terps over the hump. 

The Nittany Lions attacked Savacool early, getting four hits and bringing two runs across within the first two frames. He finished the day with a staggering 114 pitches thrown, surrendering four earned runs over six innings pitched. He also had six strikeouts to five walks. 

On the offensive side, Nick Lorusso and Ian Petrutz shined. Lorusso finished the day three for four with an RBI while Petrutz put up an RBI triple which gave the Terps the lead in the top of the fifth. Outside of that, however, the Terps offense was not able to generate much. 

Despite the lack of production, the squad was getting the bat on the ball all game long, with a lot of hard contact and long flyouts. Many speculate that many of their hits would have had the chance to leave the yard had they been in College Park, but at Penn State’s larger stadium, they were unable to find much luck. 

The Terps will be back in action tomorrow afternoon for the third game in State College, hoping for a better result and the chance to earn their second consecutive Big Ten title. The game is currently scheduled for noon, but poor weather is expected to knock back first pitch.

Down to their final out with the bases loaded and Big Ten title implications on the line, Maryland trailed by a run with their program’s career and single-season RBI record holder, Nick Lorusso, at the plate. As he’s done time and time again, the senior third baseman delivered when the Terps needed it the most. He lined a two-run single through the left side, his nation-leading 91st and 92nd RBIs, to give the Terps a lead that they would hold onto after a miraculous late-inning comeback. No. 20 Maryland defeated Penn State by a final of 17-15 in their series opener at Lubrano Park.

Maryland got on the board first in the top of the second with a two-RBI single from Elijah Lambros. Two batters later, Kevin Keister hit a ground ball to the left side that appeared to be an inning-ending double play, but an errant throw to first allowed Lambros to score to give the Terps a 3-0 lead.

The bottom half of the inning, however, was nothing short of a disaster for the Terps. The first five Nittany Lions to bat in the inning each reached base, three of them on singles, and two on errors. Nick Dean got a strikeout with the bases loaded for the first out of the inning, but hit the next batter to bring in the tying run. Johnny Piacentino followed with a sacrifice fly to give Penn State a 4-3 lead. 

Maryland appeared to have stopped the bleeding when Grant Norris hit a ground ball to Matt Shaw and was originally called out at first by the first base umpire, but the home plate umpire overruled the call as Eddie Hacopian’s foot came off the bag. It became Maryland’s third error of the inning, scoring a run and keeping the inning alive. In the next at-bat, Bobby Marsh lined a two-run double down the right field line to add insult to injury. Dean ended the inning with a strikeout, but not before the Nittany Lions plated seven runs on just four hits. 

As always, the Maryland offense responded. Matt Woods led off the fourth inning with a single and would come all the way around to score after Lambros singled and the throw to third base got away. Jacob Orr followed with another single to drive in Lambros to make it 7-5. Later in the inning, Orr scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Shaw that barely fell short of a three-run homer to center field. The Terps scored three runs on four hits in the inning to get back within a run.

Maryland had a golden opportunity to tie or take the lead in the top of the fifth, as they had runners on the corners with no outs, but Matt Woods would hit into a double play and after Lambros walked, Orr lined out to end the inning.

Dean’s day would end in the fifth inning after a Kyle Hannon sacrifice fly pushed the Penn State lead to 8-6. The senior right-hander exited after 4 ⅓ innings of work, allowing eight runs, just two of them earned, on seven hits with five strikeouts and zero walks. 

The Terps had another scoring opportunity in the sixth, but once again were unable to capitalize. Keister and Shaw singled, and Ian Petrutz was hit by a pitch to load the bases with two outs, but Hacopian flew out to left field to squander the threat.

Penn State broke the game open in the bottom of the sixth with another huge inning helped by defensive miscues. After a leadoff walk, Keister was unable to field a potential double play ball cleanly, and the Nittany Lions had runners on the corners with no outs. Piacentino cashed in with an RBI single and Norris followed with a two-run triple into the left center field gap to extend the Penn State lead to 11-6. Logan Ott would come in for Kenny Lippman, but it wouldn’t stop the home team’s bats. The Nittany Lions pushed two more runs across, making it five in the inning and giving them a seven-run advantage.

Maryland still refused to go away, however, as the offense got them right back into the game in the seventh. Penn State pitchers had trouble finding the zone in the inning. After Lambros walked and Orr was hit by a pitch, Keister drove both of them in with a double in the gap. Luke Shliger and Shaw both drew walks in front of Nick Lorusso, who lined a single into right field to bring home a run to make it 13-9. Penn State brought in left-hander Jordan Morales to face Petrutz, who hit a sacrifice fly to right field. The Terps would score two more runs with two outs on an RBI single by Hacopian and a bases-loaded walk by Lambros to make it a one-run game. Orr nearly gave Maryland the lead, but Morales made a nice catch on the mound on a hard liner back up the middle to finally end the frame.

Nigel Belgrave came on for the bottom of the inning and had trouble finding the strike zone; he issued three walks and allowed a hit while recording just one out. David Falco Jr. entered a bases-loaded jam and induced two soft grounders to limit the damage, but the Nittany Lions still pushed two runs across to extend their lead to 15-12.

After neither team scored in the eighth, the Maryland offense, which entered Thursday second in Division I in runs scored, came through once again. The Terps loaded the bases with one out for Keister, who hit a sacrifice fly to get Maryland within two. Shliger followed with a double down the left field line, scoring Woods and putting the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position. After Shaw was intentionally walked to load the bases, Lorusso found the hole on the left side to bring in two runs. After entering the seventh inning trailing by seven runs, the Terps had the lead in the ninth. Petrutz added an insurance run with an RBI single of his own, and Maryland took a 17-15 lead into the bottom of the ninth. Falco Jr. allowed a one-out double, but struck out the next two batters to seal the victory.

Every player in the Maryland lineup had at least two hits. With the win, the Terps improve to 36-18, and 16-6 in Big Ten play. They’ll look to clinch their 23rd straight Big Ten series win tomorrow at 5 p.m.

Looking to win their 22nd consecutive BigTen series, the Maryland Terrapins needed a win today coming into the rubber match against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. With great hitting all throughout the game, the Terps used a dominant seven-run inning en route to a 15-9 win.

Unlike the first two games of the series, neither team scored until the bottom of the second inning when Matt Woods homered to deep right-center field. The two-run blast was Maryland’s only score of the game until the bottom of the fifth.

Ryan Van Buren started the game for Maryland and pitched two scoreless innings before Minnesota was able to score one on a fielder’s choice to cut the lead 2-1. That would do it for Van Buren as Kenny Lippman came in immediately after to relieve him. Despite working the bases loaded, Lippman was able to work out of the jam unscathed.

After a scoreless fourth inning, the Golden Gophers got the bats hot to start the fifth. After back-to-back infield singles from Brett Bateman and Boston Merila, Minnesota loaded the bases after Brady Counsell reached on a Nick Lorusso error that scored a run. From then on it was a walk party. Three straight walks resulted in two runs for the Golden Gophers to give them the lead at 4-2. 

At that point, head coach Rob Vaughn decided to pull Van Buren in favor of Logan Ott. He walked one more home before a pop-out ended the inning, but the damage was done as Minnesota took a 5-2 lead.

Maryland started the fifth with some hope after Jacob Orr and Luke Shliger reached on singles. Up stepped Matt Shaw. The consensus future first-round MLB draft pick sent a towering no-doubt three-run blast to tie the game at 5-5. As a result, Minnesota pulled their starter Ritchie Holetz for two-way player Kris Hokenson who immediately gave up a double to Ian Petrutz. Shortly after, Eddie Hacopian brought Petrutz home on a single to take back the lead.

However, it did not last for long. After Ott hit Bateman to start the sixth, Ike Mezzenga sent a two-run homer out of the Bob to give Minnesota back the lead at 7-6.

Quickly getting two on base in the bottom half of the inning, Shaw tied the game after his single scored Orr. Minnesota pulled Hokenson for Seth Clausen. The Terps managed to rip Clausen for two runs after two RBIs singles from Lorusso and Petrutz to take the lead and extend it to 9-7.

From there, the bats only got hotter. Maryland tacked on four more when Elijah Lambros was walked home, Orr lined a two-RBI single to left, and Kevin Keister added on one more on a single to right field to make it 13-7.

After coming on to relieve Ott, David Falco Jr. went to work quickly. Through two innings of work, he did not allow a run or walk and gave up just one hit. However, he got into a little trouble in the ninth. After a quick Weber Neels home run and three singles in a row that scored another run, runners were on the corners with two outs. A quick hopper over to Keister ended the rally.

Maryland will now face Penn State next weekend to determine their seeding for the BigTen Tournament ahead of another run in the NCAA tournament later this month.