Through the first seven and a half innings of Maryland’s midweek, it couldn’t seem to get anything more than a one-run advantage against the Towson Tigers, a team they had beaten the last 12 times they faced off.

However, in the bottom of the eighth, Towson’s pitching finally collapsed. After junior Brayden Martin shot a go-ahead RBI single through the infield, the Tigers had no answer to stop the bleeding. The Terps would score on five-straight RBI walks in part of seven insurance runs added on in the inning.

With a comfortable eight-run lead in the ninth, the Terps (18-19, 4-11) would clinch their fifth win in their last six games with a 15-7 victory over the Towson Tigers (15-19, 4-14).

Coming off easily his best start of the year, freshman righty Nic Morlang took the bump to begin the Terps’ midweek yet again.

Just one strike away from having his seventh straight scoreless inning pitched over his last two games, Morlang could not deliver a good enough pitch. With Tigers on first and third and two outs, Keldrin Rodriguez smacked a double to right field just past the diving reach of outfielder Aden Hill. Both runners scored, giving Towson an early 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the second, the Terps found a great scoring opportunity of their own, but couldn’t do much with it. With bases loaded and no outs, Maryland could only muster one run as Hill recorded an RBI groundout.

The Tigers however, were making the most out of every opportunity they got to start the game. After Towson led off the third with a single, three consecutive doubles scored another three runs for the Tigers.

Head coach Matt Swope removed Morlang from the game before the freshman could record an out in the inning, replacing him with right-hander Andrew Koshy. Morlang finished his day going only two innings, surrendering six runs on seven hits while striking out three.

A risky defensive decision by second baseman David Mendez allowed a fourth Tiger to score in the inning. After making an impressive play to prevent the ball from reaching the outfield, Mendez tried to make an aggressive throw to first. threw it over the head of first baseman Paul Jones II.

The junior was able to redeem himself in the bottom of the frame though. With runners on second and third, Mendez sent a three-run homer over the left-center field wall for his sixth long ball of the year.

“We knew we weren’t out of the game, so kind of that big swing, I knew that was what we needed in the moment to get back and take over the game,” Mendez said.

As Koshy continued to hold the Tigers at six runs, the Terps’ bats were able to catch up in the fourth inning. With Hill on third, Brayden Martin would cut the deficit to one, bringing him home on the sac fly. That came just before freshman Ty Kaunas came up to bat and tied the game at six apiece after sending a solo shot beyond the outfield wall.

After a scoreless inning for both sides in the fifth, the Terps broke through for their first lead of the day in the sixth. Martin reached first on an error and slowly but surely was able to score after a sac bunt put him on second, a throwing error put him on third and a Jones II sac fly brought him home.

Sophomore righty Jake Yeager came in to begin the sixth and pitched two scoreless innings before things got messy for him in the eighth.

After walking the leadoff batter and hitting the next batter with a pitch, Yeager allowed an unearned run to score and two runners to advance into scoring position as he committed a throwing error. 

Right-hander Ryan Bailey took the mound after the run-scoring play. Bailey quickly loaded the bases, walking the first batter he faced. However, he quickly was able to adjust and escape the jam after getting a strikeout and ground out to end the inning.

For the second-straight game, the Terps saw some late-game heroics from their bats. 

Hill was able to reach second on an aggressive tag-up from first as Jordan Crosland flew out to left. Martin was able to drive him home on an RBI single to score the go-ahead run. From there on, the Dirty Terps were cruising as the Tigers could not seem to figure it out on the mound. Maryland added seven insurance runs, allowing it to enter the ninth with a comfortable 15-7 lead.

Come the ninth, Bailey got the job done, setting down the order 1-2-3 to close out his scoreless appearance in winning fashion.

“To come back from 6-1 early like the offense is gonna have to do it and on those types of days some days its one guy pick each other, you know offense and defense is the same way,” Swope said. “Today I thought the offense picked up Morlang after not his best start.”

The Terps will face the Tigers again later this season in May at Towson, but for now, they have eight straight road games ahead of them. This weekend, Maryland will head to Iowa City for a three-game series against the Hawkeyes. Tune into MBN’s broadcast all weekend long, where Daniel Stein will have you covered. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Friday.