Bobby Zmarzlak elegantly tapped his helmet against Elijah Lambros’ lid at the top the Maryland logo behind home plate after hitting a high fly ball over the right field wall for his first home run of the season.

That solo shot helped Maryland pick up a 9-1 win on Sunday at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium to secure the series sweep over the Maine Black Bears.

Maine got its first lead of the weekend with a Colby Emmertz solo home run in the third inning that barely made its way over the wall in left field, earning praise from the visiting dugout as the catcher pranced around the bases.

The lead did not last long as Ian Petrutz, who hit the clutch game-winning home run in Saturday’s game, got hit by the pitch with the bases loaded to force in a run. But they say that good things come in threes, so Matt Woods and Eddie Hacopian also got hit by the pitch, still with the bases loaded, giving the Terps a 3-1 lead.

“[It just lets] you breathe a little bit and lengthen the score out especially after they hit the solo homer,” head coach Rob Vaughn said. “I thought that’s a big piece, we did a good job of controlling the strike zone, now we got to punch through a little bit more.”

Just for good measure, Zmarzlak walked to give the Terps a four-spot in the home side of the third inning and diminished the confidence of Maine starting pitcher Noah Lewis.

Usual Sunday starter Nate Haberthier came in to relieve Kyle McCoy in the top of the fourth, who struck out three hitters while giving up one hit and one run on 32 pitches.

Sophomore left-hander Andrew Chevarie then entered to face the left-handed Petrutz, but walked him. Then, with the bases loaded once again, Kevin Keister ripped a ball that reached the wall in left-center field to score two more runs.

Keister, who has been hitting in the five-hole, commented on going up to the plate after some of the big Maryland batters.

“It’s good. It feels good,” Keister said. “[Lorusso] and Shaw, they’re always on base. It’s nice, I like it.”

One item to note is Maryland’s aggressiveness on the basepaths. Matt Shaw stole both second and third base in the sixth inning for the second day in a row, which was already the team’s fifth and sixth swiped bag of the day. Shaw is one of the players that has been a fearless baserunner all weekend.

“The games we were losing, we really weren’t aggressive, so we had to change something up and it really helped us win these past three games,” Keister said.

Maryland’s pitching dominated through the first six innings as McCoy and Haberthier combined to give up just one hit. But with Haberthier running into some trouble in the seventh with a double to Jeremiah Jenkins and a single to Connor Goodman to put runners on the corners, the big right-hander powered through and walked off to the dugout fired up.

“We both pound the strike zone well,” Haberthier said of him and McCoy. “We work ahead in hitters. I mean, he’s a big lefty, I’m a big righty. It’s kind of just complete opposites so I think that’s why it works really well.”

Haberthier, who is used to starting compared to coming in later in the game, treats each appearance the same.

“I do the exact same things,” Haberthier said. “In the top of the first inning I was throwing on the soccer field behind the field. Second inning I was throwing my pregame bullpen. Just treated it like the same.”

Zmarzlak’s home run in the seventh gave the Terps a 7-1 lead. It was the lanky right fielder’s first long ball of the season. Matt Woods then crushed a solo shot of his own in the following inning that bounced off the top of the wall and into the athletic practice fields.

David Falco Jr., who pitched in the eighth, stayed in for the ninth to close it out. The redshirt junior sat down the top of the Maine batting order with ease to wrap up the series sweep.

Despite getting the win, Vaughn wanted to see a little bit more out of his team.

“We’re gonna judge ourselves about us playing the best version of our game and we’ll take the win for sure, but if we can do some things a little bit better, there’s no reason that’s not a 15-1 game with the way we pitched the ball today,” Vaughn said.

Ian Petrutz ripped a ball through the wind and over the right field wall to break the tied deadlock, sending the bundled up Maryland players and fans into a frenzy.

The home run capped off a suspenseful 5-4 win for the Terps over the Maine Black Bears on Saturday at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium, the second game of Maryland’s first home weekend series of the season.

Nick Lorusso began the scoring in the first inning with a home run in his first plate appearance for the second game in a row, this time a two-run shot to score him and Luke Shliger.

“I think it’s just a confidence thing,” Lorusso said. “The more you hit, the more confidence you get.”

Maryland picked up a couple more runs in the opening inning as Kevin Keister drove in Matt Shaw and Matt Woods scored Petrutz with a fielder’s choice.

The Black Bears had an immediate response as third baseman Myles Sargent hit a ball just over the glove of a leaping Bobby Zmarzlak in left field for a home run. Center fielder Dylan McNary then followed with a double that rolled to the wall, scoring Dean O’Neill and tying the game at three.

After a Quinn McDaniel walk and a Connor Goodman single, Shliger made a slick sliding play after a Jeff Mejia bunt attempt with two Black Bears in scoring position, helping his pitcher get through the third inning without any more runs to cross the plate.

Shaw displayed his speed in the bottom of the inning as he stole both second base and third base after hitting a single, but Maine starting pitcher Gianni Gambardella sat down Petrutz and Keister to get his team back on offense.

Shliger put the Terps back on top in the fourth with a skittering single through the left side to score Hacopian. Then, with two runners on, Lorusso narrowly missed another home run as right fielder Colin Plante caught the towering fly ball along the warning track.

Maryland turned a beautiful double play in the fifth as it looked like Keister had no play at second, but he quickly turned on a ground ball and tosses to Shaw. Shaw then fired over to Hacopian at first who picked the ball in the turf, sending the home crowd into a big cheer as they admired the impressive three-man effort.

“That was a big time double play ball,” Maryland head coach Rob Vaughn said. “Really good job by [Keister] getting to it, really good job of Shaw communicating. They worked their tails off to be really elite defensively. They’re doing a nice job.”

Dean ran into some trouble in the sixth as he allowed two leadoff hits to put Maine runners on the corners, then O’Neill tied up the game at four with a hard hit into center field, firing up the Black Bears’ dugout.

That hit prompted Vaughn to bring in fifth year Kenny Lippman to relieve Dean, who ended his day with four strikeouts and one walk on 84 pitches.

Lippman, with Black Bears on second and third, secured two key outs and joined his energized defense as they trotted back to the dugout.

Tommy Kane came in for Lippman and tossed a fast 1-2-3 seventh. Caleb Leys, the usual Friday starter for Maine, then came in for Gambardella and matched Kane’s dominance.

Kane remained in the game for the eighth, but after an error by Shaw, a single to O’Neill, and a hit-by-pitch to Jake Rainess, redshirt sophomore Nigel Belgrave made his way toward the mound to attempt to put out the fire.

Belgrave worked the count full and then fired home an electric called third strike to end the inning as home plate umpire Joe Cruz’s voice boomed throughout the stadium and Maryland players and fans jumped in the air.

Petrutz’s home run to give the Terps the lead in the eighth was his sixth blast of the season and continued the homer-happy start for the sophomore designated hitter.

“They kind of have been attacking me on the outer third of that plate, so I scooted up a little bit and just kind of got my barrel on something that I could hit,” Petrutz said.

Belgrave remained in for the ninth to try to close it out, but Jeremiah Jenkins walked and Goodman hit a single. Goodman then advanced to second on a passed ball and Mejia walked to load up the bases with no outs.

A quick turn of events, Belgrave then struck out three consecutive Maine hitters to record the save in dramatic fashion, clinching the series win for Maryland. All seven of Belgrave’s outs came via the strikeout.

“The more he’s in that spot and the more he executes that, the more he believes in that and that guy is something else,” Vaughn said of Belgrave. “That was a gutsy effort by him at the end.”

Nick Lorusso and Matt Shaw each trotted around the bases in the first inning under flickering lights after hitting back-to-back solo home runs into the gloomy night sky.

The home runs, which kicked off a 25-10 blowout of the Maine Black Bears at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium, came much later than initially anticipated as a three-hour rain delay turned the first home Friday game of the season into a bitter nighttime matchup.

In the second, Maryland continued to tack on runs as Elijah Lambros grounded into a fielder’s choice, allowing Matt Woods to score. A wild pitch then scored Eddie Hacopian, giving the Terps two runs in each of the first two innings.

Maine, who had runners in scoring position in the first two innings, sought to do the same in the third with Quinn McDaniel attempting to steal second base, but Luke Shliger gunned him out by a wide margin, allowing the Terps to exit the inning and helping his battery mate and Maryland ace Jason Savacool continue his strong start to the night.

The Terps quickly loaded up the bases with one out in the home fourth as Ian Petrutz walked, Kevin Keister hit a double to the left field wall, and Woods was hit by the pitch. Hacopian then tapped a ball right in front of the pitcher’s mound for a fielder’s choice, scoring Petrutz and giving Maryland a 5-0 lead.

With the bases loaded again after a Bobby Zmarzlak walk, Lambros hammered a grand slam past the scoreboard, blowing the game wide open. Lorusso and Shaw then hit back-to-back home runs again later in the inning and gave the Terps 12 runs in three innings.

Maine starter Colin Fitzgerald ended his night after three innings pitched and nine hits, 12 runs, three walks, and no strikeouts. An unusual feeling for the sophomore, Fitzgerald entered the game with a 1.80 ERA after three prior games started.

“Oh, it’s awesome,” Lorusso said about getting to Fitzgerald early. “Devote some of that success to the pitchers that we faced previously, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, they all got some studs so it was definitely important seeing that and there was nothing too special from there so I thought we did a great job from there.”

After Blaine Cockburn came in to relieve Fitzgerald, Woods hit a triple off the right field wall and then scored Maryland’s 13th run with a Hacopian sacrifice fly to right fielder Colin Plante. Thanks to a couple more hits from the top of the batting order, the Terps added their 14th and 15th in the same inning.

Maine’s third pitcher of the night, Luc Lavigueur, gave his team its first scoreless inning after he sat the Terps down in order in the fifth.

A leadoff walk in the sixth inning to Jake Rainess eventually gave the Black Bears their first run of the game as the redshirt junior scored off a single from Connor Goodman through the right side of the infield.

Savacool dazzled in his fourth start of the season and finished his night after 100 pitches through six innings. He gave up two hits and four walks while racking up six strikeouts in the one-run performance.

“That two-seam had a ton of action today and that seems like a good thing because sometimes it’s hard to command when it’s moving away,” head coach Rob Vaughn said of Savacool.

Savacool, who had to wait three hours longer than expected due to the rain delay, was clearly unfazed.

“When we came out at six [o’clock] to get going, it was pouring still and [Savacool] handled it like the mature kid he is and it’s a challenge, it’s really a mental challenge,” Vaughn said. “That’s what I really challenge our guys, is can we be mentally really hooked in and starting with Jason I thought we did a really good job on that.”

Lambros hit another home run over the right field wall in the home side of the inning, becoming the third Terp to hit his second of the game, along with Lorusso and Shaw.

Some defensive changes were made by Maryland to kick off the seventh inning as James Heffley replaced Shliger behind the plate and Ryan Van Buren came in to relieve Savacool.

Maine tacked on another run with a Dylan McNary single through the right side to score Myles Sargent, making it a 17-2 ballgame.

It was a battle of firsts in the bottom of the seventh as Devin Russell pinched-hit for Petrutz in his collegiate debut against position player Matt McElwain on the mound. Russell won the battle with a full-count walk.

Luke Zeisloft then drove in Russell in his third at-bat of the season, allowing a couple of the Maryland depth players  to continue the offensive party. Heffley then scored two more with a single of his own to get Maryland to 21 runs.

“He is an incredibly smart kid,” Vaughn said of Heffley. “For him to come up and obviously get that big hit there in his first at-bat, nobody gets more excited for players than they do James Heffley.”

Right-hander Joey Colucci entered for the Terps in the eighth and picked up his first collegiate strikeout to kick off the inning. He then struggled to find his groove after that as he gave up a two-run double to Sargent. Then, with Zeisloft slipping in right field while chasing down a shallow pop, Maine picked up two more runs.

Travis Garnett came in for Colucci and struggled to keep Maine runners off of the basepaths, prompting Vaughn to bring in Andrew Johnson with the bases loaded. Johnson immediately gave up two more runs on a Goodman double, continuing Maryland’s bullpen woes on the young season.

With Tyler Nielsen pitching in the home side for Maine, Zeisloft scored Caleb Estes with the bases loaded. Michael Bouma, Zach Martin, and Jacob Orr then joined the party as they all kept the inning alive and gave Maryland more tallies.

Johnson remained in the game for the ninth and gave up two base runners, but held the Black Bears scoreless in the inning and secured the victory for the Terps.

“We haven’t exploded like we did tonight, previously in the year, so getting to do that tonight really is something special and something that we can continue to do all year,” Lorusso said.