Last weekend, Rhode Island beat William & Mary 36-22, showcasing a scoreline that only college baseball could produce. 

Maryland and Western Carolina couldn’t match that 58-run slugfest when the two teams met at Hennon Stadium on Saturday — but they put up a pretty good fight.  

In a truly historic offensive showing, Maryland set a new record for runs scored in a game by hammering Western Carolina 35-12 in the second game of this weekend’s series. Maryland’s program-high had previously stood at 32, which the Terps set against Howard in 1988.

Maryland also scored a run in every inning and mashed two more grand slams to put the team’s total at five on the young season.   

After manning third base in Friday’s matchup, Catamount two-way player Mason Holton took the bump to start game two of the set. 

Holton got two quick outs to open the afternoon but he couldn’t finish off a clean frame. Chris Hacopian tagged the senior with a single on a 3-0 offering, before Hollis Porter levied a towering home run off the Hennon Stadium scoreboard in right-center field. 

Porter’s blast gave the Terps a 2-0 lead after the first half inning. Maryland held the exact same advantage following Friday’s top of the first, but the Catamounts scored three runs in the bottom of that frame. Western Carolina (2-4) responded in even more emphatic fashion on Saturday. 

Maryland starter Joey McMannis surrendered four straight hits to start the game, the second of which was a two-run homer by junior Hayden Friese — his second 2-RBI blast in as many days.   

With one out and the bases loaded, McMannis induced what should’ve been an inning-ending double play; Chris Hacopian couldn’t corral the ground ball, allowing an unearned run to score. That error loomed large (at the time) as Wyatt Stanley doubled home two more runs for Western Carolina. 

McMannis ultimately escaped the opening frame with five runs to his name, though, the right-hander’s offense quickly picked him up.

Wake Forest transfer Liam Willson was in the midst of a brutal 0-for-14 stretch to start his Maryland career. The sophomore finally snapped that skid in the top of the second, when he laced a two-run triple down the right-field line. 

Willson then scored the game-tying run a few pitches later. He acrobatically dove head first into home as Bryaden Martin roped a sinking sacrifice fly to right field.        

A dropped popup later in the inning gifted Maryland a lead before Michael Iannazzo ripped a 2-RBI single to right field. In his first start of the season, Iannazzo’s extra-base hit gave the Terps an 8-5 lead after an inning and a half.

Western Carolina shaved into that deficit in the bottom half of the second, scoring a sixth run off of McMannis in his final inning of work. The Maryland starter labored through both frames, giving up six runs (five earned) on seven hits. He was ultimately lifted after Maryland’s offense slugged through a seven-run top of the third inning. 

VCU transfer Aden Hill, who had also struggled to start the year, opened the third frame with his first hit of the season. Hill later came in to score as Chris Hacopian drew a bases-loaded walk. The middle of Maryland’s order then posted a flurry of RBI extra-base hits.

Porter and Alex Calarco smoked back-to-back 2-RBI doubles before Iannazzo plated Calarco with a two-bagger to deep center field. Elijah Lambros capped the inning’s scoring by bringing Iannazzo home with a base hit.

Calarco added four more runs in the next frame by mashing a monstrous grand slam to center field — his third slam of the young season. The senior’s booming blast gave Maryland a 19-6 lead and was the most emphatic piece of his second straight four-hit performance.

An Eddie Hacopian triple — the Terps’ second of the day — headlined Maryland’s three-run fifth inning. The captain added an ironically significant RBI groundout in the following inning; it was the Terps’ only run in the inning, later proving to be the crucial piece in Maryland’s historic feat of scoring at least once in every inning. 

Among all of the offense, Jack Wren took over for McMannis in the third inning and gave Maryland four stupendous frames. He held the Catamounts to one run on just two hits during his outing. 

Maryland’s seventh inning was its highest-scoring. Freshman Paul Jones II provided half of the Terps’ eight runs in the frame when he sent a moon shot over the scoreboard for the team’s second grand slam of the afternoon.

The Terps then added two runs in each of the next two innings. 

Chris Hacopian broke the run record by driving in Parker Corbin on an infield single. Jacob Orr then capped off the historic showing by sending a two-out, two-run homer over the high wall in left field.   

Orr’s blast served as the Terps’ final knock of the game, as they finished with 28 hits (a school record) and 15 walks.

Western Carolina added runs in each of the final three innings, but all that did was pad the day’s ridiculous total. 

After hitting a grand slam just innings earlier, Jones II took the mound for the final frame. The freshman battled through command-induced adversity, but ultimately got the final three outs of Maryland’s extraordinary 35-12 victory.

The Terps now lead this weekend’s aggregate scoring by 22, yet, tomorrow’s 1 p.m. series finale is still the rubber match. Omar Melendez will get the start for Maryland as it looks to win the series.