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.