Zach Jancarski stood on the warning track and watched the ball sail over the center field fence as Jacson McGowan began his trot around the bases. McGowan, Purdue’s cleanup hitter, homered in two straight at-bats – in the ninth and the 11th – as the Boilermakers rallied back to defeat the Terps in 11 innings Saturday, 4-3.

Hunter Parsons, who was moved up a day from his typical Sunday role, turned in another magnificent performance, shutting the Boilermakers (18-16, 6-4 Big Ten) down with eight innings of two-run ball. But his shot at his fourth win of the year was erased by Jacson McGowan’s game-tying home run leading off the ninth inning against John Murphy. With the loss, Maryland (16-22, 3-7 Big Ten) has dropped three straight conference series, and five straight games. 

A Maryland offense that struggled mightily with runners on base in the series opener broke out early in Saturday’s contest. An error and a single put two on and one out in the first for Will Watson, who was moved up from the seventh spot to cleanup after a three-hit performance Friday night. Watson singled through the left side to put the Terps on the board first, and Zach Jancarski followed with a double just inside the third base bag to give Maryland a 2-0 advantage.

With the game tied in the seventh, Maryland retook the lead on a heads up play by Tommy Gardiner. With the freshman designated hitter on second, Nick Dunn bounced a ground ball toward the right side. Dunn beat out the throw, and Gardiner never stopped running, sliding across home plate and pumping his fist as the Terps took a 3-2 lead.

This lead held until the ninth, when Murphy surrendered the long ball to McGowan. Murphy has struggled of late, and was later replaced by Kevin Biondic, who entered the contest with a team-best 0.50 ERA. Biondic, who also went 2-for-5 at the plate, shut the door on Purdue in the ninth, and pitched a scoreless tenth, but was handed the loss after McGowan took him deep with one out in the top of the 11th. 

Last week against Michigan, Parsons missed his start due to the weather-shortened series, instead throwing five innings of relief in Sunday’s loss. He didn’t skip a beat in his return to the rotation, dominating in his first career Saturday start. He needed 113 pitches to get through eight innings, allowing just two runs on five hits while whiffing three batters.

His only two blemishes on the day came in the third and fifth. Harry Shipley took him deep for his first homer of the year in the third – his first homer of the year. Two innings later, Parsons had a chance to work out of a first and third, one out jam, but AJ Lee’s relay on a potential double play ball allowed the runner from third to score, tying the game at 2-2.

After giving up the lead in the ninth, the Terps had two chances to walk off, but failed to capitalize. In the bottom of the ninth, Dunn singled with two out, but Biondic flew out to deep center to end the inning. In the tenth, a Watson hit by pitch and a Taylor Wright walk put the winning run in scoring position with one out, but Maryland couldn’t get him the final 180 feet.

The Terps will look to salvage at least one game of the series Sunday at 1 p.m. LHP Tyler Blohm (4-2, 3.99 ERA) will face off against Purdue’s RHP Trent Johnson (1-1, 1.88 ERA).