Maryland baseball takes series vs. Rutgers on the road

Maryland baseball needed to win another series in order to stay in the hunt for the Big Ten Tournament. Some bad weather in Northern New Jersey forced the Terps and Scarlet Knights to play a doubleheader on Saturday. In three games that didn’t contain a ton of offense, the Terps found a way to win the series. Here is how the weekend went:

Friday: Maryland 4, Rutgers 3

Rutgers struck first in the first game of the series with an RBI single in the first inning by first baseman Ty Doucette. Both starters were dialed in after that with the score remaining at 1-0 Rutgers until the sixth. Rutgers starter Justin Sinabaldi had retired ten in a row at one point, but after Eddie Hacopian doubled home two in the sixth to give Maryland the lead, the Rutgers training staff went out to the mound and Sinabaldi was taken out of the game. The Terps added two more in the sixth to make it 4-1 on an RBI groundout from Sam Hojnar and a sac fly from Jacob Orr. Doucette came through again in the seventh with a two-run double to make the score 4-3, but Kenny Lippman came out of the bullpen and got the final two outs of the inning to keep Maryland in the lead and also pitched the eighth and ninth as the Terps held on for a one-run win. Omar Melendez was great in his first Friday night start pitching six and two-thirds innings and allowing just three runs.

Saturday (G1): Rutgers 2, Maryland 1

The first game of Saturday was pretty uneventful. Maryland got on the board first by scoring their only run of the game on a second-inning RBI walk from Elijah Lambros. With the bases loaded and one out in the inning, Eddie Hacopian grounded into a 6-4-3 double play to curb Maryland’s rally. Rutgers scored their only two runs in the fourth inning on a Johnny Volpe two-run single, which proved to be enough for the Scarlet Knights to get the win. The Terps had a golden chance to at least tie the game in the fifth when they loaded the bases with no one out, but could not score. Joey McMannis went three and two-thirds while only allowing the two runs, but threw 90 pitches. Evan Smith came on in relief and was brilliant in finishing the game for Maryland going the final four and a thirds innings allowing just two hits and a walk. Rutgers used three pitchers, each throwing three innings, en route to the win.

Saturday (G2): Maryland 6, Rutgers 4

Game two of Saturday’s doubleheader started with a similar theme to the rest of the weekend, which was not a lot of offense. Maryland finally broke a 0-0 tie in the fourth scoring three times, once each on a passed ball and wild pitch, and the other on an RBI groundout from Brayden Martin. Rutgers got on the board in the bottom of the fourth with a solo home run from Tony Santa Maria to make it 3-1. Santa Maria’s home run was the first and only home run between the teams this weekend. Rutgers tied the game in the fifth on a two-run double from Volpe. The Terps took the lead back in the sixth when Devin Russell was plunked with the bases loaded, and Elijah Lambros doubled home two to push the Maryland lead to 6-3. Rutgers got one more in the seventh on a balk, but that would be all the offense the Scarlet Knights would get. Logan Koester started for Maryland and pitched worlds better than in recent weeks, going six innings and allowing just the three runs. Logan Berrier pitched the final three innings to earn his fifth save of the season.

Takeaways:

Rotation Shuffle

Maryland’s starting pitching looked completely refreshed this weekend, with all three starters giving the Terps quality innings. Most notably, Logan Koester was in fact moved to be the “Sunday starter” and pitched extremely well in the role. Omar Melendez also thrived in his first Friday night start for Maryland as well.

Back-to-back

The Terps have now won two consecutive Big Ten series for the first time all season. An Ohio State loss to Illinois on Sunday will keep the Terps in the eighth spot in the standings and in position for a Big Ten Tournament birth.

Close Games

A 1-1 record this weekend puts Maryland at an extremely impressive 12-3 in one-run games this season. The bulk of this record likely comes from a significant amount of veteran presence on this team, regardless of how many years they have been at Maryland.

Up next:

The Terps have their Big Ten “bye week” coming up and will play three games in the penultimate week of the regular season. First, Maryland will welcome USC Upstate to The Bob for a 6:00 first pitch on Wednesday. The Spartans will not be an easy out, as they are currently second place in the Big South standings with a 14-6 conference record and a 30-17 record overall. This weekend, Maryland will take on an old ACC foe and travel to Chestnut Hill for two games on Saturday and Sunday with Boston College. The Eagles are currently in last place in the Atlantic Division with a 21-25 record and an 8-19 ACC record.

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