After a historic freshman campaign in 2024, heavy expectations were placed on Chris Hacopian’s shoulders with his sophomore year on the horizon. It took just four innings for him to show why.  

With the bases loaded and only one out in the bottom of the fourth inning, Chris Hacopian launched a deep fly ball over the left field wall. His mammoth grand slam gave the Terps a commanding five-run lead.

Chris Hacopian’s long ball was his only hit in a three-walk performance, but it also proved to be the biggest knock of the night. Maryland scored all six of its runs in the fourth inning on Friday night, taking down UAB 6-3 for a season-opening win in the Swig & Swine College Classic.

After missing the 2024 season while recovering from Tommy John surgery, Kyle McCoy delivered a masterful performance to start the season opener. The redshirt sophomore didn’t give up any runs through his first three innings, which included back-to-back 1-2-3 set-downs in the second and third frames. 

While McCoy dealt, though, the Terps’ (1-0) offense couldn’t score despite having a runner on base in each of the first three innings. 

The Blazers (0-1) eventually got to McCoy in the top of the fourth after Todd Clay put UAB ahead, 1-0, with an RBI single to left.

The Terps’ offense put together a major response in the bottom of the fourth. RBI singles from Elijah Lambros and Eddie Hacopian gave the Terps a 2-1 lead before Chris Hacopian’s grand slam busted the game wide open.

After four innings, the Terps led UAB 6-1, and that advantage held deep into the game.

Trying to ease McCoy back into the starting rotation, head coach Matt Swope pulled his Friday-night starter after four solid innings. McCoy exited having given up only one run (earned) on three hits. He used 65 total pitches to tally four strikeouts without surrendering a walk. 

Senior right-hander Ryan Van Buren was first out of the bullpen for Maryland. Van Buren did his job effectively, pitching three innings while only giving up one hit and a walk.

Swope then turned to left-hander Andrew Johnson to start the eighth, but the senior initially struggled in his appearance. 

Johnson surrendered a pair of singles and a walk, loading the bases with the first three batters he faced. UAB junior Nick Hollifield took advantage of a potentially rally-starting opportunity, driving a two-RBI single to left field. Hollifield’s knock cut the Terps’s lead down to 6-3.

After the scoring play, though, Johnson escaped the inning thanks to a fly out, a pop out, and a rundown play off of a wild pitch. The final of those three outs saw senior Logan Braunschweig get tagged out after misjudging the bounce on Johnson’s wayward delivery.

Johnson returned in the ninth inning to finish out the game. Despite giving up a walk, he forced a groundout and two strikeouts to guarantee Maryland’s a 1-0 start to the season.

The Dirty Terps will look to build on their winning start to the campaign, with two more contests this weekend. They face Ball State on Saturday and before closing out the Swig & Swine College Classic against Mercyhurst on Sunday.