The Terps could not mount a six-run comeback.
Maryland baseball majorly hurt its chances of making the Big Ten Tournament with a loss to Penn State, 8-4, on Thursday.
The Nittany Lions captured a six-run lead, and Maryland could not muster another one of its signature comebacks as mistakes cost the Terps.
With the win, Penn State now jumps Maryland in the Big Ten standings and could seemingly eliminate the Terps on Friday.
Omar Melendez took the ball for game one of the most important series of the year. He worked scoreless innings in his first two frames, but faced trouble in the third, as Kevin Michaels broke the ice with a solo home run to give Penn State the lead.
“Probably could have brought him out a little bit more,” head coach Matt Swope said of Melendez. “Like that’s what he does. He’s like, kind of a dangerous guy, like he’s gonna throw a lot of pitches. He’s gonna try to work in and out and that’s just kind of like what he does and he was pretty good.”
Chris Hacopian erased the lead in the bottom of the third, hitting a solo home run to tie the game. With the home run, Hacopian tied Maxwell Costas for the second-most home runs for a freshman in program history with 15.
Penn State scratched an unearned run on Melendez in the fourth inning, when Michaels hit an RBI single to recapture the lead.
Penn State worked a plethora of long at-bats on Melendez, raising his pitch count and forcing him out of the game early. Melendez pitched just four innings, giving up two runs — only only one of which was earned — six hits and two walks, while striking out four batters.
Kenny Lippman pitched the fifth inning and struggled, allowing two earned runs. Bryce Molinaro hit an RBI single and Bobby Marsh drove in Grant Norris with a sacrifice fly.
Trystan Sarcone came in for the sixth inning, but things kept getting worse for Maryland, as Penn State’s Adam Cecere blew the game open with a three-run homer to make it 7-1.
Penn State starting pitcher Travis Luensmann entered the sixth inning with 89 pitches thrown, and was clearly not as dominant as he was early on. He walked the first batter of the inning, and then gave up a two-run home run to Jacob Orr.
Mason Horwat relieved Luensmann before the end of the sixth inning and almost immediately give up an RBI single to Eddie Hacopian.
Alex Walsh worked himself out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning, then pitched a scoreless eighth inning.
Matt Maloney hit a solo home run in the ninth inning to properly cap off an important win for the Nittany Lions.
Three things to know
1. Monumental loss. With the loss, Maryland is put in a very difficult position. The Terps essentially need to win the next two games in order to continue their season.
2. Penn State dominated. Everything was on the line for both teams coming into Thursday’s game, but it was Penn State who dominated on the mound and at the plate.
3. Mistakes hurt. Maryland had a chance to make this game close, but a base-running mistake by Devin Russell killed all the momentum the Terps had.
“Yeah, I’ll take responsibility for that,” Swope said. “Like when the ball goes in there, I’m just ‘tag, tag, tag.’ I didn’t say ‘yes,’ but [he] just took me for saying ‘tag, tag, tag’ and go, instead of ‘yes, yes, yes’ … that’s on me.”