The Big Ten welcomed four new teams to the conference ahead of this year — all from the West Coast. 

Maryland matched up with one of those new cross-country foes, UCLA, in its first conference and home series of the 2025 season. It was the Bruins’ first visit to Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium after the two teams last met in the 2015 Los Angeles Regional.

Maryland led by five going into the seventh inning of Friday night’s series opener, but the Bruins cut it to just two entering the ninth inning. With two outs and a runner on base, reliever Andrew Johnson walked a Bruin, before giving up a go-ahead three-run homer to sophomore Roch Cholowsky. 

The Terps responded in the bottom of the frame, but UCLA broke the game in the top of the tenth. That big inning left Maryland without a chance to come back, as the Terps fell 12-6, in a game that they were an out away from winning.  

Making his first home start of the season, Maryland ace Kyle McCoy grabbed the game’s opening strikeout by setting down Cholowsky in the first inning. 

UCLA right-hander Cody Delvecchio entered the series-opening matchup with a 10.03 ERA, an abnormally high mark for a Friday night starter. The Terps jumped him immediately. 

Chris Hacopian — making his return from last weekend’s minor injury — stood on base as catcher Alex Calarco lined the game’s first home run over the right-center field wall. That blast put a quick two runs on the board as the Terps led after one frame.

Delvecchio soon settled in though. He kept the basepaths clear thanks to a pair of groundouts in the second inning. 

Freshman Colin Gibbs briefly broke up Delvecchio’s rhythm in the third inning when he slugged a ball toward deep right-center field, giving him just enough time to leg out a double. But, unfortunately for the Terps, Delvecchio caught Gibbs sleeping while he led from second base, picking off the freshman for a crucial out. 

After back-to-back 1-2-3 innings, the Bruins found some semblance of success in the top of the fourth. Cholowsky earned the Bruins’ first walk of the game with one out in the inning. But an unphased McCoy earned his fifth strikeout of the day before inducing a fielder’s choice to keep the Bruins scoreless for another inning.

In an attempt to get UCLA’s offense going, Payton Brennon dropped a bunt down the first base side to lead off the fifth inning. But McCoy athletically fielded the ball before firing to first for the out. McCoy surrendered a hit later in the frame, but the Terps got out of the top of the fifth with no damage.

VCU transfer Aden Hill added to the Maryland lead by starting off a strong bottom fifth with another homer to right-center field. 

“He’s a baseball player. Simple as that so it was good to see him come around and contribute.” head coach Matt Swope said.

Senior Jacob Orr followed with a double. He took third on a sacrifice and virtually walked home thanks to a wild pitch. 

The Terps left the fifth inning with a confident 4-0 lead. 

McCoy continued cruising with another 1-2-3 inning in the sixth. His offense awarded him more run support in the bottom of the inning. 

Bryaden Martin stepped into the box with the bases loaded, looking to break Friday’s game wide open. But instead, the sophomore worked through a tough six-pitch at-bat, before drawing a walk that got the Terps their fifth run of the day. 

But the Terps had to settle for that lone run, as the Bruins capitalized to an extent.   

It wasn’t until the seventh inning that UCLA broke through, abruptly scoring three runs three runs as Mulivai Levu, Roman Martin, and Blake Balsz all crossed the plate after a four-hit inning. 

Maryland also made its first pitching change after Levu scored on a Jarrod Hocking RBI single. McCoy exited in favor of Jack Wren. 

The tough seventh inning weakened what was a terrific performance for McCoy. He finished with eight strikeouts in 6.1 innings and was taken out of contention for the win following Cholowsky’s ninth-inning homer. 

With the Bruins trailing by just two after the seventh ended, Maryland was considerably less comfortable than it had been through the first six innings.

The top of the eighth included another pitching change for Maryland, this time from Wren to Johnson. The senior left-hander took over with two runners on base, but he worked around the traffic as the Bruins left the inning without getting a fourth run on the board. 

During the bottom of the eighth, Maryland had a clear opportunity to get a sixth run. It was up to Gibbs and Martin to deliver with two runners on, but neither came through. Freshman Wylan Moss struck out both batters to keep UCLA’s deficit at two.

Cholowsky ultimately flipped that deficit when he socked his go-ahead three-run blast over the left field wall in the ninth inning. But the Terps went into the bottom of the ninth still very much in the game as they trailed by just one.

With one away in the inning, Maryland fans erupted when Chris Hacopian homered to center field to tie the game at six. The Terps searched for another run to end the game but went into extra innings after Moss struck out Orr with a man in scoring position. 

The Bruins empathically took the lead for the second time after scoring six runs in the tenth inning. Four of those were credited to Levu, who laced an opposite-field grand slam to left field, just beyond the reach of a leaping Orr.

Maryland wasn’t able to come up with the improbable comeback. Justin Lee set the Terps down in order, securing the Bruins’ first-ever Big Ten conference win in extra-inning fashion. 

“When you have bad losses it’s more about how you respond than anything,” Swope said.

The two teams return to “The Bob” tomorrow at 2 pm for the second game of the series, with Maryland looking to respond. Freshman Logan Hastings will start for Maryland tomorrow as predicted.