A disappointing season for the Terps ended fittingly, as Maryland (34-22) dropped the second game of a doubleheader to Penn State (26-23), 19-6, at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium on Friday night.

Maryland entered Friday’s doubleheader with an outside chance of claiming the No. 8 seed in the Big Ten Tournament. An extra-innings loss in the first game of the day eliminated any sliver of hope Maryland had of stealing a spot in Omaha, Nebraska, the first time the Terps have missed the tournament since 2018. 

This series marks the first time Maryland has ever been swept by Penn State and the first time Maryland has been swept at home by a conference opponent since 2019. 

“It’s painful, I don’t know if I’ve been here where we haven’t made the Big 10 Tournament,” head coach Matt Swope said. “Definitely not the standard. … As a competitor it beats me up.”

Brayden Martin has had an eventful freshman season. He was an Opening Day starter, had multiple walk-off hits, and ascended into the team’s leadoff hitter. What he had yet to do was hit a college home run.

In the bottom of the first inning of his 55th game for the Terps, Martin launched a 3-2 pitch over the left field fence. 

“They teased him all the time,” Swope said. “He’s definitely someone who needs to get stronger and I think can really be dynamic next year at the top of the order.”

Penn State took a lead on a two-run homer from Kelly Michaels in the top of the third. In the bottom of the same inning, junior Eddie Hacopian hit a three-run bomb over the left field fence to give Maryland a 4-2 advantage.  

Even with the momentum of Hacopian’s homer, Maryland lost control of the game in the fourth inning. Despite only recording one hit in the frame, the Nittany Lions took a 6-4 lead. After a leadoff single, Maryland walked or hit the next five batters before recording an out. A sacrifice fly from J.T. Marr was the lone run to come through a ball in play. 

Freshman Evan Smith, the starting pitcher, was relieved with the score tied at four and the bases loaded with no outs for Andrew Johnson. Smith was charged with six runs and four hits and struck out three batters. 

Johnson went untouched for three innings, but in the seventh allowed the bases to load before being removed for Nate Haberthier. By the time the inning ended, Penn State’s advantage had grown to 10-4. 

Ben Nardi added a run via a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh, slicing the deficit to five runs. The Terps loaded the bases for Sam Hojnar, the team leader in home runs, in the inning. He struck out swinging, ending Maryland’s final offensive threat of the season. 

Maryland had earned its “Cardiac Terps” nickname by dominating late in games, outscoring opponents by more than 30 runs in the eighth inning or later entering Friday. In the last two innings of their season, a defeated Maryland squad allowed Penn State to punch in an extra nine runs. 

If there is any silver lining, it came in the bottom of the inning. With two outs, Hacopian hit his second home run of the game, one of two runs the Terps scored in the final inning. 

“It’s devastating, you hate for the seniors to go out like that, but true to fashion, they battled until the last out,” Swope said.

Until next spring, when the Terps return to the field again.

The Maryland Terrapins have earned the nickname “Cardiac Terps” because of their ability to thrive in chaos. In the opening game of Friday’s doubleheader, disarray led to a 10-inning, 6-5 loss at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium to Penn State, ending the team’s hopes of sneaking into the Big Ten Tournament. 

Both team’s coaches had jarred at the umpires on numerous occasions in the game. With two strikes and one out in the 10th, Penn State’s Tayven Kelley barely got his bat to a ball, which head coach Matt Swope thought catcher Devin Russell caught and should be ruled a strikeout. Kelley ensued to rip a double, putting runners on second and third with one out, leading Swope to make a pitching change. As he walked to the mound, the first-year coach continued to make his feelings known and was promptly ejected. 

The following play was a ground ball to third baseman Chris Hacopian. While Hacopian had a chance to throw the runner out at the plate, an off-target throw meant Penn State’s Kevin Michaels scored the go-ahead run. 

Maryland loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning, but Penn State’s Mason Horwat struck out Devin Russell to end the game. 

Penn State loaded the bases before an out was recorded in the first. The Nittany Lions scored their first run after a pitch in the dirt bounced away from Russell, with a second player crossing home plate on a fielder’s choice moments later. 

Sam Hojnar cut the Maryland deficit to one with an opposite-field home run in the second. In the next inning, he clubbed a low line drive to second base, which Michaels was unable to corral. Brayden Martin scored on the error, tying the score at two. 

Each team clubbed a solo shot one over the fence in the fourth inning and in the top of the fifth, Penn State added a run on another fielder’s choice to give the Nittany Lions a 4-3 lead.

Once again, Hojnar came through for the Terps.  Eddie Hacopian was on second base with one out in the bottom of the fifth when Hojnar crushed his team-leading 16th home run of the season, giving Maryland a 5-4 lead. 

After providing much of Maryland’s offense early in the game, Hojnar committed a two-out throwing error that allowed Michaels to score from second base and tie the game.

Koester was removed after the error, finishing the day with five strikeouts and five runs (four earned) over 108 pitches, his second-highest total of the season. Kenny Lippman got the final out of the seventh inning and remained unscathed through the ninth. 

He was not as fortunate in the tenth inning. The inning started with Lippman hitting a batter before Kelley’s double. Logan Berrier was brought in to escape the jam but was unlucky to not be able to do so. 

The second game of the doubleheader is scheduled to start at approximately 4:55 p.m.

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.

The Maryland Terrapins (34-18) swept their doubleheader over the Boston College Eagles (21-27) on Saturday at Brighton Field in Brighton, Massachusetts.

The second half of the doubleheader started as a pitcher’s duel. Logan Koester and A.J. Colarusso threw what felt like a million pickoff attempts in each of their first two scoreless innings. 

Those throwovers must have tired out both pitchers. The duel would not last. Maryland broke the ice in the top of the third.

Alex Calarco began the inning with a hard-fought walk, then singles from Elijah Lambros and Eddie Hacopian loaded the bases for the Terps. Chris Hacopian followed with a single of his own, driving in two runs for Maryland.

The Terps were not done there.

While Brayden Martin was at the plate with runners on the corners, Matt Swope called for a double steal. It paid off. Beck Milner overthrew third baseman Nick Wang trying to get out Eddie Hacopian, allowing him to score and sending his brother Chris to third.

Jacob Orr polished off the top of the third with an RBI single to right, bringing Chris Hacopian home to make it 4-0 Maryland.

The Eagles got half of the runs back in the bottom half of the inning.

Back-to-back singles to start the inning from Milner and Barry Walsh gave Boston College runners on first and second with no outs. The pair was moved to second and third on a sacrifice bunt from Sam McNulty.

Cameron Leary drove in the first Eagle run of the inning. His groundout to second base scored Milner and sent Walsh to third. Kyle Wolff followed with a single to left, scoring Walsh and cutting the Terps’ lead down to two.

Both offenses cooled off again after that wild third inning.

Colarusso threw 1-2-3 innings in the fourth and fifth to keep Maryland off the board, while Koester escaped a pair of jams to secure two scoreless innings of his own.

Those back-to-back 1-2-3 innings were the last for Colarusso. Boston College’s starter was solid aside from his third-inning implosion. The Eagles’ left-handed sophomore gave up four runs on four hits with two walks and six strikeouts in five innings of work.

Koester’s evening was also done after five. Over his five innings, Maryland’s starter surrendered two runs on six hits with a pair of walks and three K’s.

Lippman was Matt Swope’s first call to the bullpen. He escaped his own jam in the sixth.

Lippman began to inning with walks to Adam Magpoc and Vince Cimini, who went to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by Parker Landwehr. Then Lippman locked in. 

He jammed Milner, forcing him to pop up to Alex Calarco, then struck Barry Walsh out looking to end the bottom of the sixth. The Terps maintained their 4-2 lead.

The offense carried on his momentum in the top of the seventh.

Eddie Hacopian drew a walk off of Evan Moore to give the Terps a baserunner with two outs. With Chris Hacopian at the plate, Eddie advanced to second on a wild pitch from Moore. Chris delivered with his brother in scoring position, smacking an RBI single to right to extend the Maryland lead.

Lippman tossed a couple of scoreless innings after that. The Terps’ right-handed graduate student pitched three innings of relief, allowing no runs on one hit with three walks and five K’s.

Matt Swope brought in Logan Berrier to close the game. Amid a late push from the Eagles, Maryland’s closer got the save. Berrier surrendered one run but struck out back-to-back BC hitters with the bases loaded to end the game.

The Terps have a chance to sweep their ACC foe at 3:00 on Sunday.

The Maryland Terrapins (33-18) clobbered the Boston College Eagles (21-26) on Saturday in the first half of their doubleheader from Brighton Field in Brighton, Massachusetts.

The Terps broke the game open early in Brighton. Chris Hacopian was hit by a pitch, and then singles from Sam Hojnar and Brayden Martin loaded the bases. Kevin Keister walked to score the first run, then Michael Iannazzo drove in another on an error by shortstop Sam McNulty.

The bases were still loaded when Devin Russell was plunked by Boston College starter John West, and then West surrendered another run when he walked Elijah Lambros. Eddie Hacopian capped off Maryland’s six-run first inning with a bases-loaded double to drive in the final two runs of the inning.

Keister continued the offensive attack in the third.

Maryland’s captain took West deep to left field to make it 7-0 for the Terps. Two batters later, Devin Russell reached on an infield single to end West’s outing.

Despite surrendering seven runs, only two were earned since his shortstop’s two-out error allowed five of Maryland’s six runs in the first. West finished with five hits, two walks, two hit batters, and four strikeouts in just 2.1 innings.

The Eagles’ offense got their first run in the bottom of the fourth.

Omar Melendez began the inning by hitting Kyle Wolff with a fastball, then Boston College got runners on the corners on a Nick Wang single. Vince Cimini brought home Wolff with a bloop single into center field, but Maryland still led by six.

The Terps got that run right back. Keister continued his excellent day in the top of the fifth, leading off the inning with a double off the wall in right. Iannazzo pushed him to third on a bunt single and Russell brought Keister home with a sacrifice fly. In only five innings, the Maryland offense put up eight runs.

That was the end of reliever Jordan Fisse’s day. Boston College’s righty steadied the ship for the Eagles. In his 2.2 innings, Fisse gave up just the one run on four hits with no walks and two K’s.

Yet neither West nor Fisse could outduel Melendez. Maryland’s left-hander threw a gem in the seven-inning game. Melendez tossed all seven innings, allowing one run on four hits with two walks and four strikeouts.

It was the first seven-inning complete game for a Maryland starter since 2012.

The Terps will look to get the series win over Boston College in the second half of the doubleheader.

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.

The Maryland Terrapins (31-18, 10-11) outlast the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (26-21, 4-14) in Piscataway, New Jersey to win the second half of their doubleheader and the weekend series.

The second half of the doubleheader began as another pitcher’s duel for the Terps and the Scarlet Knights. 

Rutgers starter Jake Marshall had a clean slate through three innings, striking out three Terrapins in his first run through the Maryland order.

On the other side, Maryland right-hander Logan Koester’s only blemish in through two was an infield single in the bottom of the second inning.

The Scarlet Knights were the first team to put a runner in scoring position.

Scotty Young led off the bottom of the third with a double down the right field line, then advanced to third on a Jackson Natili sacrifice bunt. Once he got to third, Rutgers made a mistake. 

The Scarlet Knights attempted a hit-and-run, but Johnny Volpe hit a sharp grounder directly to Chris Hacopian, who forced Scotty Young into a rundown between third and home. It remained 0-0 after three.

The Terps broke up Jake Marshall’s perfect game in the top of the fourth.

Eddie Hacopian reached on an infield single to second, then younger brother Chris Hacopian followed with a single to put runners on first and second for Maryland. Sam Hojnar walked, loading the bases for Brayden Martin… but the Terps would score in an unorthodox way.

Jake Marshall threw back-to-back wild pitches to Martin, allowing both Hacopians to score and sending Hojnar to third. Once Brayden Martin saw a hittable pitch, he brought home Sam Hojnar with an infield single to make it 3-0 Maryland.

Rutgers responded in the bottom half of the inning.

Tony Santa Maria flew a ball out to right field that looked like it would hang for Jacob Orr. It did not. A strong crosswind pushed the should-be routine fly ball over the wall in right, cutting Maryland’s lead down to two.

After Elijah Lambros led off the top of the fifth with a walk, the Scarlet Knights pulled Jake Marshall. The right-handed graduate student went four innings, surrendering three runs on three hits and three walks with three strikeouts.

The Scarlet Knights continued their comeback in the fifth.

Cameron Love and Scotty Young began the inning with back-to-back singles, then a sacrifice bunt from Jackson Natili pushed the runners to second and third. Johnny Volpe burned Maryland for the second time on the day, lining a double down the right field line to score both runners and tie the score at 3-3.

The Terps broke the tie again in the sixth.

Maryland had more small ball on display in the inning. Brayden Martin and Jacob Orr both reached on singles and moved to second and third on a Kevin Keister sacrifice bunt. The Scarlet Knights intentionally walked Michael Iannazzo to load the bases for Devin Russell.

The pressure got to Rutgers’ reliever Sam Portnoy, who plunked Russell with a fastball to score a run and give Maryland a 4-3 lead. Elijah Lambros followed with a line-drive double to score two more, making it 6-3 for the Terps and ending Portnoy’s day on the mound.

A 1-2-3 bottom of the sixth inning would end up being the final for Logan Koester. Maryland got a great outing out of their starter, as he allowed just three runs on seven hits and no walks with two K’s in six innings. 

Logan Berrier was the next pitcher on the mound for Maryland, and Rutgers was ready for him.

Cameron Love led off the bottom of the seventh with an infield single and advanced to second on the play due to a throwing error from Chris Hacopian. He advanced to third on a groundout, then surprisingly scored on a balk from Berrier. The Terps’ lead was down to 6-4.

That would be the only scare Maryland faced down the stretch, as Berrier shut down the Scarlet Knights’ offense in the eighth and ninth innings to secure the save and the 6-4 win.

The Terps will face USC Upstate on Wednesday in their final home midweek of 2024 before they travel to Boston College for a weekend series with the Eagles.

The Maryland Terrapins (30-18, 9-11) were silenced by the pitching of the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (26-20, 4-13) in a 2-1 loss from Bianton Field in the first half of a doubleheader.

The Scarlet Knights nearly took advantage of Joey McMannis early.

Maryland’s starter struggled with his command in the bottom of the first inning. After starting the game with a strikeout of Johnny Volpe, McMannis walked Josh Kuroda-Grauer and Ty Doucette to put runners on first and second for Rutgers. A passed ball then put two runners in scoring position for the Scarlet Knights, but McMannis locked in, forcing a groundout of Pete Durocher to escape the inning unscathed.

Maryland did not squander their opportunity in the top of the second.

Donovan Zsak experienced similar command issues to Joey McMannis, walking Jacob Orr and Kevin Keister before hitting Alex Calarco with a pitch to load the bases for the Terps. Elijah Lambros brought home the first run of the afternoon when he drew a walk on a full count, putting Maryland up 1-0.

That long top of the second did Zsak in. The Scarlet Knights’ starter would only get one more inning, making his final line one run on one hit with three walks, one hit batter and three K’s in three innings.

McMannis stayed clutch when the Scarlet Knights threatened in the third.

McMannis began the inning with a walk to Johnny Volpe, already his fourth of the outing. Alex Calarco gave him a helping help for that one though, as the Terps’ catcher would throw out Volpe on a steal attempt. However, getting that runner out did not deter Rutgers.

Josh Kuroda-Grauer smacked a one-out single into right field, then sprinted to second base on Alex Calarco’s second passed ball. An infield single from Ty Doucette pushed Kuroda-Grauer to third, but McMannis escaped yet another jam. The freshman struck out Tony Santa Maria, then got Pete Durocher to line out to center field.

McMannis’ luck ran out in the fourth.

Trevor Cohen and Cameron Love began the inning with back-to-back singles, then advanced to second and third base on a sacrifice bunt from Jordan Sweeney. For a minute it seemed like McMannis might escape his third jam of the afternoon when he got JD Jones to pop up to first base, but Johnny Volpe picked up a two-run single to give Rutgers the lead.

Josh Kuroda-Grauer followed with a single of his own and that was enough for Matt Swope to pull the plug on McMannis. Maryland’s right-hander finished with two runs on six hits, four walks and four strikeouts in 3.2 innings.

Maryland almost responded in the fifth with some small ball of their own.

Alex Calarco and Elijah Lambros each singled against Scarlet Knights’ reliever Sonny Fauci, then Eddie Hacopian walked to load the bases for the Terps with no outs. But maybe McMannis’ clutch performance transferred to Fauci, as Rutgers’ pitcher shut down the heart of Maryland’s order.

Fauci struck out Chris Hacopian, forced Sam Hojnar into an infield fly and then fully defused the situation when Brayden Martin grounded out to short. The Scarlet Knights maintained their 2-1 lead.

The Terps had a similar experience in the sixth.

After beginning the inning with runners on first and second, an unlucky double play for Michael Iannazzo put a runner on third with two outs for Alex Calarco. Maryland’s catcher went down swinging, making the Terps 0-7 with a runner in scoring position.

That was the last inning for Sonny Fauci. Rutgers’ righty pitched three scoreless innings, surrendering three hits and two walks to the Terps’ offense.

Not lost amid Maryland’s offensive struggles was the stellar pitching of Evan Smith. 

The freshman southpaw only gave up two hits and one walk in 4.1 innings. He allowed no runs and struck out three Scarlet Knights.

Unfortunately for him, it was just not the right afternoon to be a Terrapin batter. Rutgers reliever Joe Mazza silenced the Maryland offense to end the day, pitching perfect seventh and eighth innings. Alex Calarco gave the Terps a glimmer of hope with a two-out single in the top of the ninth, but Mazza forced Elijah Lambros to ground into a fielder’s choice to end the game.

The series rubber match will take place at 3:15 in the second half of the doubleheader.

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.