The Terps march to the Big Ten Tournament just became a lot more difficult.

Maryland (34-20, 10-12) entered their final series of the regular season hoping for a sweep that would guarantee them a spot in the Big Ten Tournament. But after facing constant pressure from the Penn State (24-23, 10-12) offense—the Nittany Lions put a runner on base in every inning—on Thursday afternoon, the Terps fell behind early and couldn’t quite mount a comeback, losing the series opener 8-4.

Omar Melendez had been fabulous for the Terps since taking over series-opening starting duties but on Thursday afternoon he walked a tightrope in what was ultimately a short-lived appearance.  

The lefty struggled to find his command in a long first inning that saw several deep counts and 24 total pitches. With a man in scoring position though, Melendez was able to find the zone for back-to-back strikeouts to escape the minor jam.

After a second inning that featured a host of loud outs and foul balls, Penn State finally found its breakthrough in the third thanks to a line drive home run to left field from nine-hole hitter Kevin Michaels. 

Melendez ended up throwing 32 pitches in that third inning to run his total up to 74 after just three frames. 

The Nittany Lions’ lead was short-lived however, because Chris Hacopian opened the bottom of the third by launching a 380-foot moonshot over the left field fence. Hacopian’s long ball gave the freshman his team-leading 15th home run of the season. 

Penn State wasted no time snatching that lead right back though. 

A throwing error from Kevin Keister allowed Tayven Kelly to reach first to open the top of the fourth. Two batters later Michaels again haunted Melendez, but this time he did so with an RBI single to score Kelly. 

Melendez only gave up one earned run in his four innings of work, but the long counts eventually caught up with him as he threw 87 pitches.

“We probably could’ve rode him out a little bit more,” said Maryland head coach Matt Swope. “[Omar] is kind of a danger guy. He’s gonna throw a lot of pitches and he’s gonna work in and out [of jams], and that’s just kind of what he does. He was pretty good today.”

For the most part, Melendez was able to work through his jams, but the same could not be said for the Maryland bullpen.

Kenny Lippman, who had been excellent since his move to the bullpen, surrendered two runs in the fifth inning on an RBI base hit and a sacrifice fly.

Trystan Sarcone then got the ball for the sixth inning and he gave up a three-run blast to Adam Cecere, making the score 7-1 in favor of the Nittany Lions. Cecere’s long ball would eventually prove to be the knockout punch.  

Facing the lofty deficit though, the Maryland did find a spark. 

After Kevin Keister led off the bottom of the sixth with a walk, Jacob Orr brought him all the way around by lacing a two-run homer to left center. Nittany Lions starter Travis Luensmann exited a few batters later, before Eddie Hacopian smoked an RBI single to center to get the Terps their third run of the inning. 

It appeared that Maryland could’ve tacked on even more in the frame, as Chris Hacopian represented the tying run when he stepped into the box with runners on the corners and one out. But the inning ended abruptly as Devin Russell was gunned down at home trying to tag on a short pop-out from Chris Hacopian.

After the game, Swope—who was coaching third—explained that he said: “tag, tag, tag,” while the ball was in the air. This prompted Russell to try the risky tag up, but Swope clarified that he, “should’ve just been screaming no.”

I’ll take responsibility for that,” added Swope.

Following the rally-killing base running lapse though, the Terps couldn’t string together another big inning.

After getting the Nittany Lions out of the woods in the sixth inning, Penn State’s Mason Horwat shut the Maryland offense down through the final three innings, to hold the Terps to just four runs on the afternoon.

“When we’ve won, we’ve built up some big innings,” said Swope. “We just didn’t do enough offensively.”

Matt Maloney tacked on one final run for Penn State in the top of the ninth, with a mammoth solo home run down the right-field line.

Games two and three of this weekend’s series were originally scheduled for Friday and Saturday respectively. However, with rain in the forecast on Saturday, the series finale has been moved up a day, meaning the Terps and Nittany Lions will now play a doubleheader on Friday.

The first game of the doubleheader is set to start at 1 p.m. tomorrow, while the second will start approximately 45 minutes after the conclusion of game one.

“If you’re looking at … college baseball you’re just trying to win series’, and we have a chance to do that tomorrow,” said Swope.

A Mother’s Day sweep was not to be for the Terps.  

The Maryland Terrapins (34-19, 10-11) entered the final game of its weekend series against the Boston College Eagles (22-27, 8-19), searching for its first sweep since early March. The Terps were victorious in both contests of Saturday’s doubleheader, but a pitcher’s duel on Sunday afternoon ultimately rolled in favor of the Eagles, after Boston College cleanup hitter Nick Wang led off the bottom of the ninth inning by mashing a walk-off home run over the left field fence.

Wang’s moonshot allowed Boston College to salvage the final game of the non-conference series, with a 2-1 over the Terps.

Left-hander Evan Smith got his first weekend start of the season – and second start overall – for Maryland on Sunday afternoon. The freshman battled through some command issues in the early going. 

Smith surrendered a four-pitch walk to Cameron Leary with one away in the first inning. The speedy Leary then swiped two bags to get 90 feet away from home. With two outs, Wang delivered his first big hit of the day by lacing a double off the left-field wall, scoring Leary to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead. 

After laboring through that 24-pitch first inning though, Smith settled in.

The freshman faced just two batters over the minimum through the next five innings, using the spacious yard to his advantage by getting nine fly ball outs during that time. 

Smith exited the first weekend start of his collegiate career having turned in a terrific six innings of one-run baseball, striking out five and giving up just four hits along the way.

However, while Smith was posting zeros the Maryland offense was doing the same. 

The Terps got at least one man on in each of the first four innings, but Boston College starter Michael Farinelli remained unfazed despite the traffic. 

Farinelli was doing the opposite of his counterpart Smith, getting Maryland hitters out by keeping them on top of the ball. The graduate student induced eight groundouts through his five innings of work to help the Eagles maintain their 1-0 lead. 

Sunday afternoon’s outing was possibly Farinelli’s best this season.  

After the Terps again failed to score in the sixth and seventh innings, Chris Hacopian finally got a run for the Terps in the eighth.

The freshman continued his tremendous campaign with one of his most clutch moments of the season, lining a hanging slider over the left field fence to even the game at one apiece. At the time, Hacopian’s homer was just the second long ball from either side throughout the series.

Despite the momentum swing though, Boston College threatened in the bottom of the frame.

Leadoff man Sam McNulty got a single to reach base with one out, before scampering all the way to third on two passed balls. But just when it seemed like the Eagles would certainly retake the lead, Maryland’s Andrew Johnson bowed his neck and got a strikeout and groundout to strand McNulty at third.

A quiet top of the ninth, however, left the door open for the Eagles in the bottom of the frame. Wang took full advantage of the opportunity with his walk-off home run, handing Johnson the tough-luck loss in the process.

Despite Sunday’s loss though, the Terps actually had a pretty good day as far as their conference standing is concerned.

Northwestern beat Ohio State (in what was just the Wildcats’ third Big Ten win of the season) and Michigan State collapsed on the road at Minnesota (the Spartans were winning 12-2 after five and a half innings, before giving up 13 unanswered runs to lose 15-12 on a walk-off home run).

The wild Sunday now means that Maryland, Ohio State, and Michigan State will all head into the final weekend of the regular season tied for seventh in the Big Ten, each with 10-11 records in conference play. Given the records of the teams above and below them, two of the three squads will almost certainly lock up the last two spots in the Big Ten tournament next weekend, while one is guaranteed to miss out.

With their season on the line, Maryland will head back to The Bob for a three-game set against Penn State next weekend. The series is set to start on Thursday night at 6 p.m.

There truly is nothing quite like “Midweek Madness.” 

After giving up four home runs in the first four innings of Wednesday night’s midweek against USC Upstate (30-19, 14-7), Maryland (32-18, 10-11) found itself in a daunting 8-0 hole. Then seemingly out of thin air, the Terps offense found a spark. 

Devin Russell and Chris Hacopian woke the bats up with a pair of home runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, before pinch-hitter Ben Nardi turned the game on its head with a two-run blast that made the score 8-5 after six frames. 

“Mental toughness is Devin Russell getting a ball called a strike on him and then hitting a homer with two strikes,” said Maryland head coach Matt Swope. “Mental toughness is Nardi … getting a big two-run homer when he hasn’t played in [a] month.”

Jacob Orr got another run back with an RBI single in the seventh, before captain Kevin Keister called his own number by blasting a 3-run homer over the center field fence. The electric moment gave Maryland a 9-8 lead, as the Terps completed an improbable comeback in just three innings.

“Me and Jacob have been struggling a little bit, and he told me [before his at-bat] …, ‘If I get a hit here, then you’re gonna get a hit here,’ and after I saw his fall I had a lot of confidence,” said Keister, who added that go-ahead homer was one of the biggest hits of his Maryland career.

The Terps weren’t done either, because after starting the comeback in the fifth, Russell launched a two-run moonshot over the batter’s eye in dead center to provide Maryland with some much-needed insurance.

“The whole season, no matter how far we’re down, our team always has good energy,” said Russell.

From there, Kenny Lippman and Logan Berrier were entrusted to preserve the lead, and they did just that—with the help of a few spectacular plays from Eddie Hacopian at first base—shutting down the Spartans’ offense in the final two innings to close the door on a ridiculous 11-8 comeback victory over USC Upstate.  

Making his first start of the season was lefty Trystan Sarcone. The graduate student’s most recent outing had come against Nebraska on April 19, and after a sharp first inning, Sarcone ran into some trouble with the biggest bats in the Spartans order.

USC Upstate’s Koby Kropf entered play on Wednesday night with a Big South-leading 18 home runs on the season. On just the second pitch of the top of the second, Kropf added to that tally by launching a majestic blast over the left-center field fence. 

Then three pitches later, five-hole hitter Troy Hamilton made it back-to-back jacks with another light tower blast to left.

Sarcone would eventually get through the rest of the inning without yielding any more runs, but that was all he saw on Wednesday evening. The two second-inning homers were the only hits that Sarcone gave up. 

Nate Haberthier took over for Sarcone to start the top of the third, and the righty appeared to be well on his way to a clean frame before the wheel completely fell off with two outs. 

A seemingly harmless two-out base hit from Grant Sherrod turned into a run after a walk and an RBI double from Hamilton. 

While Hamilton’s hit was ruled as such, it seemed that center fielder Elijah Lambros slightly misjudged the frozen rope and allowed the ball to sail over his head. Nardi replaced Lambros in the order, after Lambros’ at-bat in the bottom of the third.  

The bleeding only worsened from there. Haberthier got ahead of just about every batter he faced, but just couldn’t find a strikeout pitch to escape the inning. 

Following the Hamilton double, the Spartans added two more base-hits to drive in three more runs in the third. Despite getting outs from the first two batters in the inning, Haberthier was unable to finish the frame.

On the other side of the ball, the Terps offense simply couldn’t find an answer against Upstate’s Braden Consaul. 

Through his first four innings of work, Consaul surrendered three hits, all of which were singles and came in different innings. Maryland’s inability to string together multiple hits in an inning against Consaul seemed to doom any hope the Terps had of cutting into the lofty deficit. 

The Spartans kept adding on, with solo blasts in the fourth and fifth innings, giving themselves an 8-0 lead after four and a half innings. But somehow, the Terps weren’t phased. 

By scoring 11 unanswered runs in just three innings, the Terps sparked what could be one of their most crucial victories of the season, if they’re able to make the NCAA Tournament.

“That’s one of the greatest comebacks I’ve ever been a part of in my career,” said Swope, who also described his team’s five-homer night as, “a little bit of vintage Terps.”

After this wild Wednesday night at The Bob, Maryland will be back on the road this weekend, as they travel up to Massachusetts for a non-conference series against Boston College.

It’s only one game, but it seems that the Terps might have found their Friday night starter.  

Maryland (30-17, 9-10) came into this weekend’s series opener against Rutgers (25-20, 3-13), with momentum from winning four of its previous five. It wasn’t easy, but the Terps kept the winning ways rolling on Friday night thanks to a big sixth inning and stellar start from Omar Melendez, which allowed Maryland to edge out its thirteenth one-run victory of the season, by a final of 4-3.     

It wasn’t a completely clean start for Melendez—who was making his first Friday night start in a Maryland jersey—as the Alabama State transfer faced some trouble immediately out of the gate. 

Scarlet Knights two-hole hitter Josh Kuroda-Grauer whacked a one-out base hit to left field in the bottom of the first, before scooting all the way to third on a stolen base and errant throw. A Ty Doucette single then plated Kuroda-Grauer, getting the Scarlet Knights on the board after just three batters. 

After laboring through the first inning though, Melendez found his groove. 

Despite surrendering eight hits and three walks, Melendez was able to work around traffic throughout the night to hold the Scarlet Knights to just one run for much of the evening.          

Similar to Maryland, good pitching has been hard to come by for the Scarlet Knights at times this season. But on Friday night, ace Justin Sinibaldi was dealing. 

Not only was Sinibaldi keeping hitters off balance, but he was also doing so efficiently. Through the first three frames, the senior faced one batter over the minimum and threw just 30 pitches in the process. 

A breakthrough eventually came for Maryland in the sixth inning though. 

Devin Russell and Elijah Lambros reached base to lead off the inning, and the pair got into scoring position on a wild pitch. Eddie Hacopian made the most of Maryland’s first scoring opportunity by smoking a 2-RBI double down the line. 

The two-bagger gave Maryland its first lead of the game and also marked the end of the night for Sinibaldi, who exited with the Rutgers trainers immediately after.

Maryland wasn’t done either, getting two more runs before the half-inning concluded, thanks to a groundout from Sam Hojnar and a sacrifice fly from Jacob Orr. In a half-hour-long top of the sixth, the Terps sent all nine men to the plate and scored four runs to take a solid 4-1 lead.     

It wasn’t necessarily smooth sailing from there though, as the Scarlet Knights battled back with two runs in the bottom of the seventh, both of which coming on a Douchette double. 

Douchette delivered all three RBIs for Rutgers on the night and knocked Melendez out of the game with his third hit of the game. 

While Melendez certainly would’ve liked his start to begin and end a little differently, the junior twirled a gem all things considered. His 6.2 IP gave the Terps some much-needed length—a recent issue on Friday nights—and did so behind a career-high 106 pitches. 

The Terps weren’t out of the woods when Melendez exited though, as Douchette was standing in scoring position with a chance to tie the game at four. Thankfully for Maryland, Kenny Lippman slammed the door.

Lippman started the year as Maryland’s Friday night starter, while Melendez began the 2024 campaign in the bullpen. Two and a half months later though, the two find themselves in opposite roles, a reversal that ultimately paid off for the Terps. 

After escaping the jam in the seventh inning, Lippman came back out for the next two innings and gave up just one hit while striking out three en route to a terrific seven-out save. 

The two sides will be back at Bainton Field for the second game of the series, with the first pitch set for noon.

It certainly wasn’t a beautiful day for baseball at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium, but the Terps and Fighting Illini played one heck of a game on Saturday afternoon.

The Maryland (27-17, 7-10) offense looked lackadaisical for much of Friday night’s loss against Illinois (25-14, 11-3) before a minor breakthrough in the final inning saw the Terps snag two runs and bring the tying run to the plate. Maryland ultimately dropped the contest, but the offensive momentum seemed to carry over to game two of the series.

Despite rain delaying Saturday’s start by an hour, Maryland came out swinging to capture an early lead. From there, the Terps relied on some clutch bullpen performances down the stretch to will their way to a crucial 9-8 victory, and even this weekend’s series against Big Ten leaders Illinois.

“They came out like gangbusters,” said Maryland head coach Matt Swope. “Even when [Illinois] came back they didn’t sulk or pout, they just did a good job [to] keep grinding it out.”

Both offenses were throwing haymakers in the early going.

The first four batters in the Maryland order reached base in the bottom of the first inning, allowing the Terps to get on the board after Jacob Orr was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. Brayden Martin then grounded into a run-scoring double play, which seemed as if it could be a rally killer. But the Terps weren’t done.

Kevin Keister kept the offense rolling by lacing an RBI double off the yellow foul marking on the left-field fence before Micheal Iannazzo continued his productive week with an RBI base hit to score Keister.

“He swings at a lot of pitches but he’s a pesky hitter,” said Swope, referring to Iannazzo’s approach. “He’s getting his opportunity and he’s taking advantage of it.”

The 4-0 lead was short-lived for Maryland though, as the Fighting Illini immediately cut into the deficit thanks to a three-run blast off the bat of Jacob Schroeder.

But of course, the 4-3 scoreline didn’t last long either because Elijah Lambros led off the bottom of the second with a moonshot over the centerfield fence.

Not only did his solo blast cushion Maryland’s, but it also chased Illinois starter Cooper Omans after just nine batters. The tough start came as a little bit of a surprise since Omans has arguably been the Fighting Illini’s best pitcher this season. Saturday’s outing, however, was easily his worst of the 2024 campaign, raising his ERA by almost a full point (3.55 to 4.44).

Maryland starter Omar Melendez didn’t fair much better though in his second Saturday start of the season. Melendez couldn’t make it out of the third inning and exited with the game tied at five after giving up a two-run blast to Illinois clean-up hitter Vytas Valincius.

“He left some stuff up in the zone … today,” said Swope. “He’s gotta work that change up down, and then the fastball up in the zone. Overall, it probably [wasn’t] his best [outing], but we’ll just keep working with him.”

Despite the early departure, Melendez’s battery mate Devin Russell made sure to pick him up in the bottom of the third. With two gone and a man on second, Russell launched a 2-0 offering down the left field line, but his home-run distance fly ball sailed just foul. Then two pitches later Russell hammered a home run off the varsity team house to give Maryland a 7-5 lead.

“It’s never a good feeling hitting a foul ball homerun because you feel really good seeing it go, and then it’s just a long strike,” said Russell. “Then usually … you don’t hit a home run in the same at-bat, but I got lucky and got [another] good pitch to hit.”

Eddie Hacopian tacked on an eighth for the Terps later in the third inning with a bloop single that scored Lambros. Hacopian would also drive in Lambros with a seventh-inning double that gave Maryland its ninth—and final—run of the game.

Camden Janik got the sixth run of the game for the Fighting Illini in the top of the fourth, and that’s when the offenses finally slowed down.

Kenny Lippman came in to relive Melendez in the third and was nearly flawless. The run he surrendered on Janik’s base hit was the only one he gave up in his 4.1 innings of work, and the time in which he slowed down the Fighting Illini offense was critical too because the Terps didn’t scratch out another run until the seventh. Lippman ended up earning the win as well.

The last two innings for Maryland were assigned to Logan Berrier, and neither of the frames were easy.

Illinois got a one-out rally going in the eighth thanks to a couple of hits and a walk. The Fighting Illini managed to plate two of those runners after a bases-loaded HBP and a wild pitch. Thankfully for the Terps though, Berrier was able to bow his neck and escape the jam to preserve the one-run lead.

Despite the rough eighth inning, Swope said the decision to send Berrier back out “wasn’t even a question.”

Schroeder led off the ninth with a base hit, and he was then sacrificed over to second to put a runner in scoring position with just one out. Once again though, Berrier delivered for the Terps and got back-to-back strikeouts to put the finishing touches on a chaotic victory.

“We’re fighting for our lives right now, … [but] these guys are confident,” said Swope.

First pitch for the series finale is scheduled for noon on Sunday. The Terps not only have a chance to win their first series in over a month, but they could also hand Illinois its first series loss in conference play this season with a victory tomorrow afternoon.

The Dirty Terps knew that this could be a difficult weekend against Illinois, and it looked to be every bit of that on Friday night.

Maryland (26-17, 6-10) entered the first game of its series against Illinois (25-13, 11-2), losers of its previous four Big Ten series. By contrast, the Fighting Illini came in with a two-game lead over Nebraska atop the Big Ten standings, and are still yet to lose a conference series this season.

Those discrepancies were evident on Friday night, as the Illinois offense scored early and often, while starter Jack Crowder delivered a strong performance, en route to a 7-4 victory over Maryland.  

“I think as a group collectively, we just need to play better baseball,” said Maryland head coach Matt Swope. “There wasn’t any … phase that we did well enough to win a Friday night game versus a first place team.”    

Logan Koester took over Friday night starting duties in Nebraska last weekend and delivered a clean first two innings before running into trouble in the third and fourth frames of that start. The redshirt senior got the ball again on Friday night against the Fighting Illini, and yet again, his appearance was short-lived.   

Cal Hejza almost single-handedly put the Fighting Illini on the board in the first. After smoking a double off the left-center field wall, the senior got a massive jump to swipe third on the very next pitch. Two-hole hitter Camden Janik then plated Hejza after roping a single to center. 

The opening frame could’ve been far worse for the Terps after Drake Westcott added a third straight hit to open the game for the Fighting Illini. Thankfully for Maryland though, Koester managed to avoid disaster thanks to a double play and fielder’s choice. 

The top of the second inning looked eerily similar to the first for Illinois. Jacob Harding got the Fighting Illini going with a leadoff double and was then brought home one batter later following a base hit up the middle from Coltin Quagliano. Once again though, Koester limited the damage to just one.

A clean third followed for Koester, but Illinois managed to break through and post a crooked number in the fourth. 

With one away in the inning, the Fighting Illini put runners on first and second after a walk and an error. Both then moved up 90 feet after getting massive jumps on a double steal, a move that inevitably paid off as Janik drove both home with yet another base hit to center. Janik would later come around to score on a passed ball.

“That’s more on us as a coaching staff,” said Swope, speaking on the problems that Koester and the infield faced with holding runners on. “We work on that stuff [and] we just have to be better at it.”

Like last Friday, Koester’s night was done after just four innings. The righty departed with a final line that read: 7 H, 5 R (3 earned), 3 walks, and 3 strikeouts. He was later tagged with the loss as well. 

“We’re just looking for some consistency,” said Swope, regarding Koester’s start. “He [was] battling out there, [but] we didn’t do a great job defensively.”

Unfortunately for Koester, the offense didn’t provide him with much run support either. 

Illinois’ Jack Crowder had been fairly average as the Fighting Illini’s Friday night starter this season—the senior entered the evening with a 5.03 ERA in 10 starts—but looked stellar against the Terps this time around.

In six innings of work, the senior surrendered just two runs on two hits and struck out five while walking just three. The two blemishes on Crowder’s line came in the third and sixth innings. 

Alex Calarco led off the bottom of the third with a double into the right field corner, before Elijah Lambros and Eddie Hacopian brought him home with a sacrifice fly and RBI groundout respectively. 

Three innings later Sam Hojnar sliced an opposite-field home run perfectly inside of the left-field foul pole, to give the Terps their second run—and hit—of the evening.  

With Crowder cruising, the Fighting Illini added a few more runs for insurance off Maryland reliever Andrew Johnson. The junior delivered three solid frames but surrendered two runs in the process, the first of which via a sixth-inning solo home run from Coltin Quagliano. The Fighting Illini then got their seventh and final run of the game thanks to a two-out base hit from Brody Harding in the next inning. 

Ben Plumley delivered two shutdown innings out of the bullpen for the Fighting Illini, before the Terps managed to get a two out rally off of Illinois reliever Korey Bunselmeyer in the bottom of the ninth. 

However, Maryland only managed to yield two runs from its last-gasp effort and ultimately came up short as Illinois shortstop Cal Hejza made a terrific play up the middle to close out the game.

“We’re just trying to find a place where we play better down the stretch,” said Swope. “We just need to play more consistent baseball. That’s something we did earlier in the year that we haven’t done recently.”

Maryland and Illinois will be back at “The Bob” for game two of this weekend’s series, tomorrow at 2 p.m. The Terps will be looking for a bounce-back performance on what’s set to be a lively Maryland Day around campus.

“We just need to find a spark somewhere, and hopefully Omar [Melendez] can give that to us tomorrow like he did last week,” said Swope.