Brothers Eddie and Chris Hacopian have often batted in succession for Maryland since the start of last season.

But for the first time in their collegiate careers, the two brothers from Potomac, Maryland, launched back-to-back home runs for their hometown team on Friday night. That brotherly love was a highlight for the Terps in what turned into a 7-4 win over Penn State at Medlar Field.

The younger Hacopian left the yard first. 

After Brayden Martin opened the game by beating a throw to first, Chris Hacopian followed up by crushing the first pitch of his at-bat over the left field wall to get Maryland on the board early.

The senior Hacopian then stepped into the box. Eddie Hacopian put a barrel on a 3-2 pitch, and his knock kept carrying. He ultimately got just enough, as the ball bounced on top of the left field wall before clearing it altogether. 

The pair of homers gave Maryland a 3-0 lead before starting pitcher Kyle McCoy even took the mound. 

It was an uncharacteristic start for Penn State ace Ryan DeSanto. He escaped the second inning despite allowing two more Maryland batters to reach base. But Jacob Orr added on to the lead in the third, launching a solo shot to extend the lead to four. 

DeSanto hadn’t allowed more than two home runs in a start this season prior to Friday.

DeSanto ran into more trouble in the top of the fifth. 

An Alex Calarco leadoff walk was followed by an Orr double, setting up runners at second and third with no outs. Both runners reached home — Calarco on a Hollis Porter groundout and Orr on an Aden Hill single — to hang two more runs on DeSanto’s statline. 

The junior left-hander’s day would be over once he escaped the jam, but the six runs allowed were the most he had given up all year.

It was the opposite story for DeSanto’s counterpart on the rubber. Kyle McCoy didn’t allow an earned run in a six-inning, 103-pitch performance.

However, three unearned Penn State runs crossed the plate while McCoy was on the mound; the first two came across following Orr’s solo blast in the third. 

An Orr throwing error allowed Penn State’s Ryan Weingartner to reach first safely. That brought up two-hole-hitter Paxton Kling, who roped a double into center. A bad route to the ball from Elijah Lambros allowed Weingartner to score all the way from first. 

And the comedy of errors continued. 

This time, it was an errant throw from Chris Hacopian that allowed the next batter, Jack Porter, to reach base. But Porter got greedy and was thrown out at second trying to stretch the play. The result of the calamity: Kling at third base with two outs.

With a chance to salvage the sloppy inning, McCoy instead allowed a single up the middle to give the Nittany Lions their second unearned run of the inning.

Joe Jaconski led off the ensuing frame with a double before the sloppy play returned. With Jaconski on his way to steal third, McCoy fired an errant throw back to second, which sailed over Orr’s head and brought Jaconski home.

Like he did last Friday against Nebraska, Maryland head coach Matt Swope turned to Logan Hastings to close out the final three innings. 

The freshman was somewhat shaky, allowing multiple batters to reach base in all three innings. While he cleanly escaped the seventh, the base traffic bit him in the eighth, as a sacrifice fly pulled Penn State within three.

Now finding himself in a save situation in the bottom of the ninth, Hastings gave up a leadoff single to start the frame. However, the freshman responded by striking out the next two batters, putting the Dirty Terps one out away from snapping their three-game losing skid.

Even though Joe Jaconski stretched the game by working a walk, Hastings remained composed. He induced a lazy pop-up, which Chris Hacopian secured to end the game.

Game one of the series was supposed to be the first game of a Friday doubleheader due to expected rain on Sunday. However, unexpected showers hit Happy Valley Friday afternoon, pushing the start time of the first game back and nullifying the possibility of a doubleheader.   

Rain is also expected in Happy Valley at various times tomorrow and Sunday. The start times for those two games are currently listed as 2 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively, but both are very tentative. 

Regardless of the weather, though, Nate Schwartz will be back on the call for both games for MBN.