The Northwestern Wildcats (11-19, 1-6 Big Ten) pick up their first conference win of the season Friday, outlasting the Maryland Terrapins (22-13, 4-6 Big Ten) 6-5 in 10 innings from Rocky and Berenice Miller Park.

The Terps struck first on the road.

After both pitchers had relatively uneventful first innings, Eddie Hacopian led off the top of the second with a double to center. Sam Hojnar drove him in with a double of his own to break the ice and give Maryland a 1-0 lead.

Elijah Lambros followed with a bunt single, and that was the end of the day for Northwestern starter Nolar Morr. The short leash seemed planned for the Wildcats, as Northwestern had arms going in the bullpen at the start of the inning.

The Wildcats brought in long-reliever Matt McClure. His first batter was former teammate Alex Calarco, who McClure hit with a fastball to load the bases. However, the Terps did not capitalize. Charlie Glennon struck out and Brayden Martin followed with a soft grounder to strand three runners.

Things got interesting again in the top of the fourth.

Sam Hojnar and Elijah Lambros led off the inning with back-to-back singles, then McClure hit Calarco with a pitch for the second time to load the bases with nobody out. McClure settled back in, forcing an infield fly from Charlie Glennon and a fielder’s choice from Brayden Martin to get two out of three outs.

But Maryland did not squander their bases loaded opportunity on the second try.

Jacob Orr, “Captain Clutch” himself, smacked a pitch off the wall in left-center. A few weird bounces stalled Northwestern’s relay, allowing all three baserunners to score. Maryland led 4-0, but it would not last long.

Bennett Markinson picked up a one-out single to give the Wildcats a baserunner in the bottom half of the inning. Lippman followed that single with his third K of the afternoon and nearly escaped the inning unscathed.

That was not the case.

Lippman left a pitch hanging to first baseman Trent Liolios. Liolios took Lippman very deep to right field, MBN’s own Jack Susanin said he “never saw the ball land.” That cut Maryland’s lead in half.

The Terps got one of those runs back in the fifth.

Eddie Hacopian began the inning with his second double of the game, then advanced to third on a groundout from Kevin Keister. Elijah Lambros bunted him home on a squeeze play to give Maryland the 5-2 advantage.

The Wildcats would not go away. Jackson Freeman hit a solo shot to left in the top of the sixth to get that run back for Northwestern. The Terps led 5-3 after six.

Kenny Lippman had the bounce-back start that the Terps were hoping for.

Following his rough outing last weekend against the Hoosiers, head coach Matt Swope said “Kenny’s got to be better. Simple as that.”

Maryland’s Friday starter settled back into form at Rocky and Berenice Miller Park. Lippman allowed three runs on five hits with no walks and five strikeouts over his six innings.

Evan Smith came into the game in the bottom of the seventh. The freshman lefty had been hot, but he did not have his best stuff Friday. 

Smith got two outs, but walked three to load the bases for the Wildcats. Matt Swope pulled the plug on Smith and brought Logan Berrier into the game.

Berrier brought the drama.

With two outs, the bases loaded and Northwestern trailing by two, Owen McElfatrick came to the plate. He and Berrier fought until the count was full. McElfatrick fouled off three full-count pitches before Berrier got him to swing and miss.

The top of the eighth featured the end of Matt McClure’s night. Northwestern’s semi-starter went six and one-third innings with four runs on seven hits, two walks and three strikeouts.

Berrier came back out in the bottom of the eighth, where he did not have the same luck.

Jackson Freeman began the inning with a single, then went a third on a double from Bennett Markinson. A deep sacrifice fly from Vince Bianchina scored Freeman and pushed Markinson to third, cutting the Wildcats’ deficit down to one. Trent Liolios followed with an RBI single to tie the game.

Both offenses stalled in the ninth, the 5-5 tie required extras.

Maryland was up first in the extra frames. Alex Calarco began the inning with a walk, then Michael Iannazzo singled to put a runner in scoring position for the Terps. Northwestern reliever Garrett Shearer recovered from there, getting out Brayden Martin and Jacob Orr before sending Chris Hacopian down looking to get out of the inning.

Logan Berrier went back out to the mound for the bottom of the tenth.

Jackson Freeman was first up to the plate for Northwestern. He was hit by a pitch, and then a single from Bennett Markinson pushed him to third base with nobody out. Berrier picked up an out on a Vince Bianchina grounder, but his luck would soon run out.

The Terps intentionally walked Trent Liolios to bring the struggling Tony Livermore to the plate. The Wildcats’ shortstop delivered, poking a ball over Brayden Martin’s head in left to score the winning run. Northwestern picks up their first Big Ten win of the season.

Wasted opportunities were the story of the day for Maryland. The Terps left 13 runners on base and went 3-16 with runners in scoring position.

Maryland will get a chance to recover in game two Saturday at 2:00.