Maryland held a one-run lead headed into the ninth inning, but for the second game straight, the opponent put pressure on the Terps in the top of the ninth and forced Maryland to respond. 

With bases loaded, Jordan Crosland sent the ball to short. Wagner turned the first out at second and gunned it to first. Crosland just narrowly beat out the relay throw to give the Dirty Terps a 10-9 victory Friday at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium.

“I gave a hard 90 [feet]. I was just praying I was safe,” Crosland said. 

Maryland’s (5-4) offense exploited Wagner’s (1-6) pitching struggles. The Terps stayed home for their first weekend series and fought off their own issues on the mound to get the win over the Seahawks. 

Lance Williams took the mound for his third start of the season. The sophomore posted an ERA below two in his first two games of the season. Williams went up against Colin Trizuto, who averaged five earned runs per game entering Friday’s matchup, amongst a Seahawks bullpen packed with options. 

Lukas Torres started it early against Maryland with a leadoff single. The Wagner sixth-year came into the series batting .500 —a team high. 

Williams allowed the hit and to start, but won the pitching battle against Evan McRae, punching the junior out to end the inning.

Ty Kaunas notched his 10th hit of the season for the Dirty Terps’ first of the game. The freshman advanced through the bases with a steal and an error and two outs, but Paul Jones II grounded out to close.

Williams’ struggles bit him early. After a Seahawk hit, Omar Carreras—Wagner’s No. 7 batter—crushed his first pitch from Williams over the dead center fence to take a 2-0 lead in the second.

But in the bottom half of the inning, Wagner’s starter Trizuto also broke. 

Trizuto had two early outs with a lone runner on and looked to close the inning clean. Antonio Morales delivered from the turnover spot, nailing a triple into right field that McRae couldn’t track down for Wagner. That hit scored Jackson Sirois for the Dirty Terps’ first run.

Brayden Martin followed that with a single, sending Morales home and tying up the score to end the second.

When one player catches the hitting bug, it tends to spread quickly. Bats stayed hot as the pitching struggles remained contagious. 

Before Friday, Williams hadn’t allowed a home run in either of his past two starts. He allowed his second—a three-run slam from Joseph Mennella—of the game in the third inning. 

Trizuto retook the mound for the bottom of the inning, first allowing a run on a Jones II hit. Two batters later, Bud Coombs returned the Seahawks the home run favor. 

The freshman’s first hit of the night was gone with the crack of the bat as the Maryland native rocketed a three-run homer over center, giving the Dirty Terps the 6-5 lead. 

“He’s electric,” coach Matt Swope said. “I just think he’s going to be a guy that continues to get better.”

Mennella repeated his own hit in the fourth, taking the lead back 8-6 and making Maryland’s lead short-lived.  

A pitching switch helped the Terps regain control. 

Ryan Bailey came in for Williams to begin the fifth and threw two innings, allowing no runs and just a single hit. Wagner also made a switch, bringing in Joseph Steventon. The Dirty Terps scored twice against the redshirt sophomore.

Wagner registered a lone hit in the fifth inning and was kept quiet until the 9th. 

“I think we did a great job responding in those innings,” Swope said. “We just got to come out and play a little bit cleaner game tomorrow.”

Maryland registered a hit in every inning of play except the sixth, where both teams were retired in order.

The Terps’ 12-hit performance is their fifth time tallying double-digit knocks this season. Martin, Kaunas, and Coombs each registered a hat trick of them. 

The Dirty Terps come back to “The Bob” for game two of the series Saturday. Jack Zwirn and Adam Lipman have the call for MBN, with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.