Maryland catcher Justin Morris dove for the ball near the Maryland on-deck circle, a desperate attempt to keep it from rolling past him as Purdue’s Nick Dalesandro rounded third and headed for home. Morris couldn’t corral the errant throw, and pitcher Grant Burleson picked it up and threw it home wildly, allowing Dalesandro to score, as Purdue unloaded the bases on a bloop single to tie the game.

One batter later, Skyler Hunter scampered home on a wild pitch, giving the Boilermakers their first lead of the game in a wild seventh inning as Maryland fell to Purdue Sunday, 8-6. The Terps (16-23, 3-8 Big Ten) dropped all three games of an important conference series, getting swept at home for the first time since losing three straight to Indiana in May 2015.

“Coach [Rob] Vaughn kinda said it the best, he said he’s never seen anything like that before, and to be honest, I haven’t in a while either,” Maryland center fielder Zach Jancarski said of the three-run bloop single in the seventh. “The throw was a little bit up the line, communication wasn’t there as far as to cut it off or not, and then it kinda had a negative domino effect from there.”

Desperately needing a victory Sunday to stay relevant in the Big Ten Tournament conversation, everything seemed to be going right for Maryland through six innings. Tyler Blohm, who exited his last start with arm discomfort, was through six innings of two-run ball, and five combined RBIs from Zach Jancarski and Nick Dunn had given Maryland a 6-2 advantage.

But things came apart quickly for the Terrapins in the seventh, as they coughed up five runs on just two hits, highlighted by Hunter’s bases-loaded single and Will Watson’s throwing error. Blohm, who minimized damage through his first six frames, loaded the bases in the inning on a double and two walks with nobody out.

He exited in favor of freshman left-hander Grant Burleson, who induced a ground ball fielder’s choice that scored a run, but set up the potential for an inning-ending double play. But after a walk loaded the bases, Hunter blooped a single into left-center. Two runs crossed, and Will Watson’s throw home skipped past cutoff man Taylor Wright and up the third base line, as Morris sprinted over in an attempt to reign it in. Dalesandro scored on the play, and Hunter crossed later on the wild pitch, completing the Maryland collapse.

“If you don’t play catch, if you let the game get fast, you know it can snowball on you a little bit and that’s what happened right there,” Vaughn said. “One bad throw led to three bad throws and a flail to the outfield ended up being a three-run triple essentially. So yeah, just not taking care of the baseball right there kinda came back to get us.”

This negated a strong outing early on by Tyler Blohm, who allowed just a solo homer and an RBI single while striking out four through his first six frames of work. He was aided by some early run support, as Maryland broke out for four runs in the third, highlighted by Zach Jancarski’s three-run homer.

The Terps took an early lead in the inning when AJ Lee scampered home on a wild pitch to make it 1-0, and Jancarski took Purdue starter Trent Johnson deep over the left-field wall after a missed catch on a pop-up extended the inning. The homer was Jancarski’s fourth homer of the year, setting a new career high for the senior center fielder.

Nick Dunn lined a two-out, two-run double into the right field corner in the sixth, scoring Lee and Brad Barnett, who had both walked earlier in the frame. Dunn’s team-leading 27th and 28th RBIs gave the Terps a commanding 6-2 lead heading into the final three innings of play, before the wild seventh inning turned the game upside down.

Purdue added another in the ninth, when Hunter doubled off Sean Fisher to open the inning, and eventually came around the score on AJ Lee’s error at shortstop. John Murphy came on in relief of Fisher to escape a bases-loaded jam to close out the top of the ninth.

Maryland brought the winning run to the plate in the ninth against Purdue closer Ross Learnard, as Kevin Biondic singled with two out and Watson walked. But Jancarski popped up in foul ground to end the game and ensure the sweep for Purdue. 

“We have to continue to be as consistent as we possibly can, and it doesn’t matter who we’re playing,” Jancarski said. “If you don’t earn those 27 outs and you don’t play as good as you can that day, you’re probably going to lose. That’s just the way [the Big Ten] is, it’s pretty even, and we just gotta do a little bit better job moving forward, but I like our chances.”

With the loss, the Terps drop to 3-8 in conference play, as they drift further from the No.-8 spot in the Big Ten that is necessary for them to make the conference tournament.

“What we can’t control is where we are in the standings, what we can’t control is the last two months of baseball,” Vaughn said. “All we can control is our effort today and what we come out on Tuesday and do. That’s what I’m looking for out of these guys, just come back, bounce back. If we play a clean game of baseball and get beat and we compete our tails off, I can live with that.”

Maryland is back in action Tuesday at home against George Mason at 4 p.m.

Entering Friday, Mark DiLuia had just seven collegiate starts under his belt. But with normal Friday starter Taylor Bloom still recovering from an injury, DiLuia got the ball Friday night against Purdue, becoming the first Terps freshman to start a series-opening game since Jimmy Reed in 2012.

A four-run second was DiLuia’s only blemish in his six innings of work, but the Maryland bats couldn’t back up the freshman. In a night without middle of the order threat Marty Costes, they tallied 12 hits but went just 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position and left 11 on base. Purdue (17-16, 5-4 Big Ten) added three runs in the ninth to put the game out of reach as the Terps (16-21, 3-6 Big Ten) fell to the Boilermakers at home, 7-1.

After a scoreless first, DiLuia ran into trouble right away in the second inning. With a runner on first and one out, Evan Warden lifted a double down the left field line to plate the first Boilermaker run of the afternoon. A walk put two on for Nick Dalesandro, who smoked a line drive to left center that rolled all the way to the wall, allowing two more to score. Skyler Hunter’s subsequent RBI single to right scored Dalesandro, making it 4-0 Purdue.

Maryland had several opportunities to cut into the Boilermaker advantage, but couldn’t get the key hit off Purdue right-hander Tanner Andrews, who scattered 11 hits over seven innings of work.

“Tonight, our quality at bats were great, we got a lot of hits,” head coach Rob Vaughn said. “We just couldn’t quite – we’d string three together, we’d need four; we’d string four together but need five. It’s tough, I’m proud of the way we competed tonight, that’s the bottom line. I thought we competed as a team, I thought guys ran off a pretty good plan at the plate.”

The Terps plated their lone run in the sixth inning, when AJ Lee singled with men on the corners and two away, to make it 4-1. Zach Jancarski had led off the frame with a double to right, and moved up to third on Will Watson’s single through the left side.

However, other scoring opportunities went by the wayside. Lee doubled leading off the bottom of the first, and tagged up on Nick Dunn’s fly ball to right, but Purdue appealed to second, and the umpire called him out, ruling that he left the base too early. Now with two out and nobody on, the Terps got two more baserunners in the frame, but Randy Bednar struck out to strand them both in scoring position.

A walk, a hit and a sacrifice bunt gave the Terps men on second and third with one out, but they again could not bring Jancarski the final 90 feet to cross home plate. Dunn led off the third with a single and the fifth with a double, but was stranded both times. Watson’s one out double in the fourth put another man in scoring position, but the Maryland outfielder only made it as far as third base before the inning came to a close.

DiLuia settled down after the second-inning blemish, ending his outing with four straight scoreless frames. He allowed his fair share of baserunners – eight hits and five walks in six innings – but a little help from his defense kept the deficit from growing larger. Catcher Justin Vought threw out would-be base stealers in the third and fourth, and Taylor Wright snared a liner with the bases loaded in the fifth to start an inning-ending double play.

“Mark DiLuia was an absolute dude tonight,” Vaughn said after the game. “He came in and competed his tail off. Shoot, we ran a freshman battery out there on a Friday night conference game, and for those guys to work together the way they worked and compete the way they did, I’m really proud of those two.”

Grant Burleson tossed two scoreless innings before Alec Tuohy served up a three-run double to Alec Olund in the ninth to make it 7-1, Purdue. Ross Learnard shut the Terps down with two scoreless innings of relief. 

Watson picked up three hits in the contest for Maryland, while Dunn, Lee, Jancarski and Vought notched two hits apiece.

Vaughn announced after the game that Costes, a junior outfielder, is suspended for the entirety of the weekend series and will rejoin the team Monday.

“Marty didn’t meet some of the team rules we had this week,” Vaughn said. “He’s an unbelievable kid, he works his tail off, he plays his tail off. He’s a great kid that just didn’t live up to the standards that we hold as a program this week.”

The Terps will look to even the series Saturday at 2 p.m. in College Park. RHP Hunter Parsons (3-2, 3.13 ERA) takes the hill for Maryland against Purdue LHP Gareth Stroh (4-2, 5.67 ERA).

Three walks and a pair of sacrifice flies broke an eighth-inning tie and doomed Maryland as the Terps fell to the visiting Illinois Fighting Illini in Sunday’s rubber match, 4-2. In a contest in which all six runs crossed on errors, sacrifice flies and bases-loaded free passes, the Illini were able to take advantage of late opportunities to down the Terps and drop them to 3-3 in conference play this season.

Maryland (15-17, 3-3 Big Ten) struggled with runners on base, stranding the bases loaded in the sixth and eighth innings and leaving 12 runners on overall. The Terps went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position on the day.

“Unfortunately, we put three guys on in a row, and they cashed in,” head coach Rob Vaughn said about the eighth inning. “We come back the next inning, put the first two guys on and just can’t execute. Really, that’s the story of the game right there, they executed in the seventh, eighth, ninth and we didn’t.”

Since the beginning of March, Hunter Parsons has been Maryland’s best pitcher, averaging over seven innings per start while surrendering just six total runs. Sunday, the right-hander did not disappoint, as he and Illinois starter Ty Weber matched each other pitch for pitch through the first five frames. But Parsons exited with an apparent injury in the sixth inning of a 1-0 game, and the following innings became a back-and-forth seesaw affair.

Down 1-0 in the sixth after Parsons’ injury, the Terps were able to get to Weber, who had just allowed doubles to Taylor Wright and Justin Morris through the first five frames. AJ Lee opened the bottom of the sixth with a single to right, and Nick Dunn followed with a ground ball through the right side as Lee dashed toward third. Illini right-fielder Jack Yalowitz bobbled Dunn’s hit, however, and Lee ran through Rob Vaughn’s stop sign at third to tie the game.

A pair of walks – one intentional – signalled the exit for Weber, with right-hander Ryan Thompson entering in his place. After striking out Bednar on a full count, the Illinois reliever hit Richie Schiekofer, forcing in Nick Dunn from third base to give the Terps a 2-1 lead, but Morris struck out to leave the bases loaded.

“The biggest thing for us is trying to execute in those situations,” Lee said. “The biggest thing to do that is just knowing who we are as a team and individual players. Just staying in our approach and doing what we do, it’s gonna have to come eventually if we’re going to be a good team.”

Illinois plated three unanswered in the final three frames against a Maryland bullpen that struggled to command the strike zone. The Illini tied it in the seventh when reliever Sean Fisher struck out Grant Van Scoy, but an errant throw to first by Morris led to a collision between Van Scoy and first baseman Kevin Biondic as Michael Michalak scampered home from second base to tie things up.

Mike Vasturia finished the seventh inning, but walked the first hitter he faced in the eighth, ushering in right-hander John Murphy. But the Terps’ closer didn’t fare any better, walking Bren Spillane, and Vaughn elected to bring in Biondic, who in turn walked the first batter he faced to load the bases. The next two hitters, Doran Turchin and Jack Yalowitz, each lifted sacrifice flies to the outfield, plating a pair of runs to give Illinois a 4-2 lead.

Like Weber, Parsons cruised through the first three frames unscathed, but the Illini were able to crack the scoreboard first. The Terps’ starter loaded the bases with one away, and rebounded to strike out the next hitter, but then walked Michael Michalak on four pitches to force in a run. With the bags still full, Parsons went full on Jeff Korte, but froze the Illini catcher to minimize the damage.

That was the only blemish on his line, as he went 5.2 innings, allowing just the one run on three hits and two walks while striking out seven. He retired the first two batters he faced in the sixth, but appeared to be in discomfort after delivering a 1-1 pitch to Turchin, and exited without finishing the at-bat. 

“His [hamstring] just kind of locked up on him a little bit,” Vaughn said. “We just didn’t want to take a chance, you know we’re hoping it’s nothing too serious, we think it was just kind of a cramp and we’ll have a lot more information hopefully in the next day or so.”

After the Terps coughed up the two runs in the top half of the eighth, they had a golden opportunity to strike back in the bottom half. Maryland loaded the bases with two outs on a single, a walk and a hit by pitch, but No.-2 hitter AJ Lee struck out to strand three runners. The Terps got the tying run to the plate in the ninth, after Wright’s two-out single brought pinch hitter Will Watson up, but Gerber struck Watson out to record his eighth save of the season.

The Terps now hit the road for a four-game swing. They’ll travel to Harrisonburg, Virginia, Tuesday to take on James Madison before visiting Ann Arbor for a weekend series against Michigan.

Throughout the first half of the 2018 season, the Terps have unified around a common pastime:  popular survival-based video game Fort Nite: Battle Royale. So, it was only fitting that on the evening of the “Fort Night” promotion at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium, Maryland broke out for seven runs on eleven hits in a 7-1 victory over Illinois in the nightcap of Friday’s doubleheader.

“Everybody loves Fort Nite, that’s really all we talk about,” catcher Justin Morris said. “To bring it out here, it just keeps things loose. It was a fun atmosphere.”

Left-hander Tyler Blohm tossed 6.1 innings of one-run ball while Morris and Kevin Biondic each collected a homer and two doubles as the Terps (15-16, 3-2 Big Ten) evened the series at a game apiece. John Murphy tossed 2.2 scoreless innings at the back end to pick up his third save of the year. 

Held in check by Illinois starter Andy Fisher in game one, the Terps’ offense broke out early against Ryan Schmitt in the nightcap. They opened the second inning with three straight hits – a Kevin Biondic double and singles by Zach Jancarski and Taylor Wright – to get on the board. After a pair of strikeouts, Justin Morris hit a three-run shot off the light pole beyond the right-field fence to extend the Maryland advantage to 4-0.

An inning later, Biondic – who just missed a home run his first time up – hit a solo shot over the left field wall by the scoreboard, his fourth home run of the year.

“It doesn’t really matter who breaks out, it’s just the fact that everybody’s getting hits today,” Morris said. “Hits are contagious. The top of the lineup was hitting the ball well, they were getting hits before I even came up. That’s just how it is when your whole team is hitting the ball it’s like you’re coming up and you’re expecting to hit.”

Meanwhile, Blohm returned to the dominant form he displayed two weeks prior against Stetson. The southpaw shut down an explosive Illinois offense, scattering five hits while whiffing nine hitters. He struck out Illini slugger Bren Spillane – who entered the contest with a cool .489/.571/.1.120 slash line in 25 games – three times, making the three-time Big Ten Player of the Week look utterly lost at the dish.

“He did an unbelievable job there mixing pitches,” head coach Rob Vaughn said of his sophomore left-hander’s performance. “He had a really good feel for his breaking ball, real good fastball command today, was able to throw his changeup when he needed it. But just a very good start overall for him against a very, very dangerous offense.”

Blohm’s only blemish on the night came in the seventh inning. He surrendered a one-out walk in front of Jeff Korte’s double, which put men on second and third. That spelled the end of the night for the sophomore starter, who exited in favor of John Murphy. Grant Van Scoy then drove in a run on a ground ball to second, ending the shutout, but Murphy froze Zac Taylor to shut the door.

His counterpart, Schmitt, did not fare as well on the hill in his first career start. The sophomore right-hander lasted just 3.2 innings, surrendering six runs on eight hits. He departed in the fourth, after issuing his first free pass of the night to Terps shortstop AJ Lee. Earlier in the frame, a Chris Alleyne single and a Morris double set up Nick Dunn’s sac fly that drove in the Terps’ sixth tally.

Sean Leland replaced Schmitt and stifled the Maryland offense for three innings before the Terps struck again in the eighth inning to make it 7-1. Morris reached on a hit by pitch and moved to third on Dunn’s single before Marty Costes drove him in on a groundout.

Murphy made things interesting in the ninth, hitting two consecutive hitters on two-strike counts to put a pair of men on with one away, but struck out Van Scoy and Taylor to seal the victory.

Friday night’s victory came in the nightcap after Illinois dominated the Terps in the first game, 10-6.

“I think it fired us up as a team, it definitely fired me up, I wanted to go back, get out here as soon as possible and show them what we’re made of,” Blohm said of the team’s effort after losing the opener. “We’ve won a lot of series on the Saturday and Sunday games and I think we’re doing a really good job of responding.”

After a day off Saturday, the Terps will look to take their third straight series (and second straight Big Ten series) Sunday at 1 p.m. Hunter Parsons (3-2, 3.33 ERA) takes the hill for Maryland against Ty Weber (3-1, 2.74 ERA) for Illinois.

Zac Taylor dropped the bat at home plate and jogged toward first base as the ball sailed over the left-field fence. Maryland right-hander Taylor Bloom stood on the mound and stared in disbelief as Taylor trotted around the bases with a grand slam that broke the game open, giving the Illinois Fighting Illini a 10-3 lead in the fifth inning.

Bloom has been the workhorse in the Terps’ rotation this season, averaging over seven innings per start entering Friday’s contest, but he was no match for the potent Illinois offense, as he turned in his worst start in four years at Maryland. The right-hander labored through five innings, allowing a career-worst ten runs on ten hits and five walks as the Terps fell to the Illini in the first game of Friday’s doubleheader, 10-6.

The Terps (14-16, 2-2 Big Ten) kept pace with the Illinois bats early on, but struggled to solve left-hander Andy Fisher as the game went on. The Illini junior scattered eight hits and two walks over eight innings, allowing just three runs in his longest start of the season. Maryland rallied late, plating three in the ninth, but the comeback ultimately fell short. 

Meanwhile, Bloom was in trouble right from the start. The right-hander walked Taylor and gave up a single to Ben Troike to open the game, putting two on for the recently crowned Perfect Game/Rawlings Midseason National Player of the Year Bren Spillane with nobody out. The junior slugger delivered, smoking a double to the wall in left-center to put Illinois on the board. Michael Massey followed with a line drive over Randy Bednar’s head in right field, scoring two more as the Illini took a 3-0 lead before Bloom could record an out.

Bloom walked the bases loaded in the third and Michael Michalak followed with a double over Tommy Gardiner’s head at third, plating two. Doran Turchin added the sixth run of the game with a towering solo shot over the batter’s eye in the fifth. A pair of infield hits and a walk loaded the bases, and despite Bloom’s pitch count hitting 100, Rob Vaughn elected to keep his veteran starter in to face Taylor. The Illini leadoff man made him pay, promptly unloading the bases.

Like Bloom, Fisher ran into a jam early, as the Maryland bats got to work early. With runners on the corners and one away in the first, AJ Lee’s ground ball single scored Marty Costes, and Zach Jancarski followed with a bloop hit into shallow right field. Kevin Biondic came across on the play, pulling the Terps within one. After Will Watson’s infield single loaded the bases, a fly out and a strikeout ended the inning however, as the Terps stranded three in the inning trailing by one.

After this, Fisher shut the Terps down. The only other Maryland run crossed in the fourth, when Tommy Gardiner trotted home on the left-hander’s balk. Singles by Gardiner and Nick Dunn and a Costes fly out set up runners on the corners preceding Fisher’s mistake.

Following Bloom’s exit, Grant Burleson, Alec Tuohy and Billy Phillips combined to keep the Illini off the board for the final four frames. 

Justin Vought hit a two-run homer to right off Illinois left-hander Jimmy Burnette in the ninth to cut the Terps’ deficit to five, but that’s all Maryland was able to muster as the comeback attempt fell well short. Vought, who was pinch hitting for Justin Morris, has two hits in his college career – both have cleared the fence. Later in the frame, Jancarski drove in the Terps’ sixth run of the contest with a double to the left-center field gap, but Watson struck out to end the game.

With the loss, the Terps have lost two straight, and fall to 7-8 at home this season. They will look to even the series in the nightcap of Friday’s doubleheader when they send southpaw Tyler Blohm (3-2, 4.50 ERA) to the mound against Illinois right-hander Ryan Schmitt (1-1, 3.68 ERA).

William & Mary second baseman Sean McDermott dove for Randy Bednar’s ground ball up the middle and threw toward first as the Terps’ freshman sprinted up the line. First baseman Colin Lipke corralled McDermott’s low throw to retire Bednar and the Terps, as Maryland fell to the Tribe 6-3 in 11 innings Tuesday in College Park.

Taking over for Kevin Biondic on the mound in the 11th with the game tied at 3, Elliot Zoellner, aka “Fuzz,” hit two of the first three hitters he faced, putting runners on the corners for the Tribe (11-18). After a well-placed sac bunt attempt loaded the bases, Lipke poked a single through the right side, breaking the tie to give William & Mary a two-run lead. Grant Burleson replaced Zoellner (1-2) and walked in a run later in the frame to put the Tribe up 6-3.

Maryland (14-15) squandered golden opportunities to win the game in the eighth and ninth innings, wasting a runner on third with no out and one out, respectively. Down by three in the 11th, the Terps looked to put a rally together against Tribe closer Wade Strain. AJ Lee singled to lead off the frame and Zach Jancarski was hit by a pitch to put two on and no out with the tying run coming to the plate. But the next three hitters couldn’t progress the rally further, with Bednar’s ground out sealing the Terps’ fate.

“You give us the runner at third base with nobody out to win a game, you should be able to book it that the game’s over at that point,” head coach Rob Vaughn said after the game. “You leave 17 guys on base at home and can’t execute like that you don’t have a chance to win.”

The extra-innings loss negated the best start of freshman Mark DiLuia’s young career. The right-hander, who has been hit hard in several of his outings this year, tied a career-high with six innings of work, allowing just one run on four hits and a walk while striking out six.

But his Tribe counterpart was just as brilliant early on. Maryland’s offense couldn’t get anything going through four innings against Tribe right-hander Nick Butts, drawing five walks but failing to crack the hit and run columns on the scoreboard. Once Butts exited in favor of fellow right-hander Jamie Sara, however, the Terps’ bats came alive.

Trailing by one, Taylor Wright ignited a Maryland rally leading off the fifth against Sara with a double down the left-field line – the first Terp hit of the afternoon. Two batters later, Nick Dunn drove Wright home with a line drive single to center, picking up his team-best 22nd RBI and tying the game at 1-1. The Terps had a chance to take the lead, after a Costes single put men on first and second with two out, but Kevin Biondic struck out on a high 3-2 fastball to end the inning.  

Down 2-1 in the seventh, Nick Dunn led off the inning with a double over the head of Tribe left fielder Brandon Raquet, and immediately moved up to third on a wild pitch. Marty Costes collected his second hit of the game, driving in Dunn with a single up the middle to again tie the game, this time at 2-2. Sara again shut down the Terps’ hopes of a larger rally, however, inducing two fly outs before whiffing Jancarski on a 3-2 pitch.

Again down by a run in the eighth, Watson walked to lead off the frame. Wright squared to bunt, laid it down, and sprinted toward first, as William & Mary pitcher Charlie Fletcher picked up the ball and fired it wide of first down the right field line. Watson rounded third and scored easily, and Wright ended up at third on a three-base throwing error as the Terps tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the eighth. With Wright at third and no out, the Terps taking the lead seemed imminent, but Richie Schiekofer and Justin Vought, the next two hitters, couldn’t drive him home. With two out in the inning, Dunn and Costes walked to load the bases, but Biondic flied out to center. 

Looking to walk it off, AJ Lee led off the ninth inning with a bouncing ball to third base, and while the throw to first beat the Maryland shortstop by a step, William & Mary first baseman Colin Lipke couldn’t hold on to it, and Lee was safe. After moving up on a sacrifice bunt, Lee stole third, putting the winning run in scoring position with one away, but Will Watson grounded out and Taylor Wright struck out to send the game to extras.

DiLuia ran into early trouble when Tribe leadoff man Ryan Hall lined the third pitch of the game into the left-field corner for a double. He settled down and retired the next two hitters, and was one strike away from escaping the inning unscathed, but William & Mary catcher Hunter Smith dropped an RBI single in front of Marty Costes in right to put the Tribe in front, 1-0.

After the early blemish, however, DiLuia settled down to give the Terps some much-needed length in a midweek start. He allowed runners on in the second and third, but was able to pitch out of jams to avoid further damage. Terps catcher Justin Vought helped his pitcher by throwing out would-be base stealers in both frames. The only marks against him in his final three innings of work were a fifth-inning error and a sixth-inning hit by pitch, neither of which the Tribe could do anything with.

“Mixing pitches was a big thing today, I had the changeup that was working well, so it was tough for guys to sit on three pitches,” DiLuia said of his success Tuesday. “I thought I did a good job just moving the ball in and out.”

Mike Vasturia took over on the mound in the seventh after DiLuia’s six brilliant frames, but immediately got into a jam, walking and hitting the first two batters he faced, respectively. After a pop up, Zach Pearson, William & Mary’s leading hitter, lined a single back up the middle to score Owen Socher from second and give the Tribe a 2-1. The big right-hander was able to retire the next two hitters however to keep the Maryland deficit at one run.

An inning later, after the Terps tied it up again, Tribe first baseman Colin Lipke greeted new Terps pitcher Sean Fisher with a monster solo home run that cleared the center field wall by plenty. A Hunter Smith double ushered a quick exit for Fisher in favor of John Murphy, who recorded the final two outs of the inning. 

Murphy fired a 1-2-3 ninth inning before handing things over to Biondic in the tenth. The two-way star allowed two William & Mary hitters to reach before retiring the Tribe in the first frame of free baseball.

Maryland is back in action this weekend to host Illinois in a three-game set, starting at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.