The Terps were held silent for much of Tuesday’s game before making a late push.
Maryland baseball entered the ninth inning on Tuesday facing a one-run deficit, staring a detrimental loss at Mount St. Mary’s in the eyes. But the Terps rallied with three runs — all unearned — to escape with a 6-4 win.
In the top of the ninth, after his teammates worked a walk and hit by pitch, Eddie Hacopian came up to the plate with a chance to tie the game. Then came a passed ball and a wild pitch, which allowed Jordan Crosland to take third and eventually home. With some weight taken off his shoulders, Hacopian hit a fly ball to center, which was dropped by Evan Smith, allowing Brayden Martin to score and give Maryland (13-4) the lead. Hacopian took second on the error and was promptly driven in by Kevin Keister, who socked an RBI single.
Alex Walsh then came in and sent the Mountaineers (1-11-1) down in order to earn the save.
Nothing was going Maryland’s way until the late stages of the contest. Heading into Tuesday’s game, Maryland ranked No. 35 nationally in RPI and Mount St. Mary’s ranked 285th. But that didn’t matter early.
Maryland was held scoreless through six innings, and Mount St. Mary’s took a 2-0 lead after solo home runs from Scott Seeker and Tyler Long.
Maryland finally got on the board in the top of the seventh when Martin hit an RBI single to drive in Devin Russell from second. Later in the inning, Chris Hacopian grounded into a double play, allowing Crosland to score and tie the game at two.
But Mount St. Mary’s took the lead right back in the bottom half of the frame when Shane Wockley hit a two-run single off Omar Melendez.
Even so, Sam Hojnar’s eighth-inning RBI single brought the Terps within one, and a big ninth inning propelled the Terps to victory.
Ryan Van Buren made his fourth midweek start of the season for Maryland and had another great performance, although he got no run support. Despite giving up a home run to the second hitter he faced, he threw five stellar innings, giving up four hits and one walk.
Melendez entered the game in the sixth, and like Van Buren gave up a home run to his second batter. He allowed two runs in the seventh but worked out of an eighth-inning jam to keep Maryland within one, earning his first win of the season.
Mount St. Mary’s relied on its bullpen, and for six innings it worked to perfection. The Mountaineers pitching staff that allows an average of nearly eight runs per game struck out 11 Maryland batters, also forcing the road team to strand 10 runners on base.
But the Terps got the win, their third straight. Next, they’ll fly cross-country for a weekend series against the Portland Pilots.
Three things to know
1. Maryland narrowly avoided a loss. Mount St. Mary’s dominated the majority of Tuesday’s game. Maryland escaped with the win, but spent much of the day trying to fend off what would’ve been a massively harmful loss to its résumé.
2. Van Buren looked good again. Van Buren had another solid start on Tuesday. His success could earn a look from Terps head coach Matt Swope as a potential weekend starter.
3. Offensive woes. The Terps eventually got their act together, but their offense was nowhere to be seen through six innings. Most notably, center fielder Elijah Lambros struck out four times.