It’s only one game, but it seems that the Terps might have found their Friday night starter.  

Maryland (30-17, 9-10) came into this weekend’s series opener against Rutgers (25-20, 3-13), with momentum from winning four of its previous five. It wasn’t easy, but the Terps kept the winning ways rolling on Friday night thanks to a big sixth inning and stellar start from Omar Melendez, which allowed Maryland to edge out its thirteenth one-run victory of the season, by a final of 4-3.     

It wasn’t a completely clean start for Melendez—who was making his first Friday night start in a Maryland jersey—as the Alabama State transfer faced some trouble immediately out of the gate. 

Scarlet Knights two-hole hitter Josh Kuroda-Grauer whacked a one-out base hit to left field in the bottom of the first, before scooting all the way to third on a stolen base and errant throw. A Ty Doucette single then plated Kuroda-Grauer, getting the Scarlet Knights on the board after just three batters. 

After laboring through the first inning though, Melendez found his groove. 

Despite surrendering eight hits and three walks, Melendez was able to work around traffic throughout the night to hold the Scarlet Knights to just one run for much of the evening.          

Similar to Maryland, good pitching has been hard to come by for the Scarlet Knights at times this season. But on Friday night, ace Justin Sinibaldi was dealing. 

Not only was Sinibaldi keeping hitters off balance, but he was also doing so efficiently. Through the first three frames, the senior faced one batter over the minimum and threw just 30 pitches in the process. 

A breakthrough eventually came for Maryland in the sixth inning though. 

Devin Russell and Elijah Lambros reached base to lead off the inning, and the pair got into scoring position on a wild pitch. Eddie Hacopian made the most of Maryland’s first scoring opportunity by smoking a 2-RBI double down the line. 

The two-bagger gave Maryland its first lead of the game and also marked the end of the night for Sinibaldi, who exited with the Rutgers trainers immediately after.

Maryland wasn’t done either, getting two more runs before the half-inning concluded, thanks to a groundout from Sam Hojnar and a sacrifice fly from Jacob Orr. In a half-hour-long top of the sixth, the Terps sent all nine men to the plate and scored four runs to take a solid 4-1 lead.     

It wasn’t necessarily smooth sailing from there though, as the Scarlet Knights battled back with two runs in the bottom of the seventh, both of which coming on a Douchette double. 

Douchette delivered all three RBIs for Rutgers on the night and knocked Melendez out of the game with his third hit of the game. 

While Melendez certainly would’ve liked his start to begin and end a little differently, the junior twirled a gem all things considered. His 6.2 IP gave the Terps some much-needed length—a recent issue on Friday nights—and did so behind a career-high 106 pitches. 

The Terps weren’t out of the woods when Melendez exited though, as Douchette was standing in scoring position with a chance to tie the game at four. Thankfully for Maryland, Kenny Lippman slammed the door.

Lippman started the year as Maryland’s Friday night starter, while Melendez began the 2024 campaign in the bullpen. Two and a half months later though, the two find themselves in opposite roles, a reversal that ultimately paid off for the Terps. 

After escaping the jam in the seventh inning, Lippman came back out for the next two innings and gave up just one hit while striking out three en route to a terrific seven-out save. 

The two sides will be back at Bainton Field for the second game of the series, with the first pitch set for noon.