After a decisive 11-2 victory on Saturday to even the series, the Maryland Terrapins (25-16, 6-9) felt like they had swung momentum in their favor. A series win against Nebraska (25-12, 8-4) would go a long way in the Terps’ Big Ten tournament hopes, much less an NCAA Regional.

After Eddie Hacopian crushed the first pitch of the game on Saturday, the Terps never looked back and cruised to victory. Heading into the rubber match, head coach Matt Swope said scoring first would once again be the key for the Terps to come away victorious. 

“Punch them in the mouth again and play clean,” he said. “It’s as simple as that.”

However, for the first time this weekend, Nebraska scored first, this time on a Tyler Stone no-doubt 2-run home run, eventually leading to the Cornhuskers 16-4 victory in just seven innings. In all three games in this series, the first runs of the game have come via the long ball. On Friday it was Chris Hacopian, on Saturday it was his brother Eddie and on Sunday it was Stone.

Just like the Terps on Saturday, the Cornhuskers did not back down after getting out to an early lead. They crushed Joey McMannis, who had by the worst start of his freshman campaign. The right-hander was only able to complete three innings, allowing eight runs on eight hits. 

The defense certainly did not help McMannis out, committing three errors during his outing and allowing the Cornhuskers to steal bases at will.

The fourth inning is when Nebraska put the game away for good, scoring five runs on seven hits and even more poor defense from the Terps. Cayden Brumbaugh led the charge, recording a single, double, and triple all before the end of the fifth inning.

Once McMannis was removed from the game things only continued to go downhill. Evan Smith and Ryan Van Buren combined to pitch just two innings and allowed three runs. 

Maryland was able to scratch a few runs across in the sixth thanks to a pair of RBI singles from Sam Hojnar and Michael Iannazzo.

After Duke McCarron left the game with an injury after facing just one batter, freshman Hunter Baynes made his collegiate debut and it did not go well. He faced four batters, walking all four and throwing just four strikes in the process. When the inning was all said and done, Baynes was charged with four earned runs.

After the Terps went down in order in the seventh, the game was officially called due to the run rule. In the Big Ten, coaches may agree for the game to be ended after seven complete innings.

The lone other bright spot for the Terps was Brayden Martin. The freshman was 2 for 3 with an RBI and looked much more comfortable in the box than the first two games this weekend.

The Terps have a chance to bounce back on Tuesday when they travel to Harrisonburg, Virginia to take on the James Madison Dukes (24-15).