Maryland baseball wins series against Big Ten leading Illinois

photo courtesy of umterps.com

It has not been the season that Matt Swope had hoped for, but this weekend, Maryland baseball put together their best series of the year and took two out of three from a scorching hot Illini team. It felt like the kind of series the Terps had been trying to put together for a while but were unable to do so. However, after dropping the first game, Maryland won the next two to win a series they had to have to stay in Big Ten Tournament contention. Here’s a look at the weekend:

Friday: Illinois 7, Maryland 4

The Illini got going early Friday night scoring once in the first two innings on RBI singles from Camden Janik and Coltin Quagliano. After the Terps’ got one back in the third, Illinois scored three more times in the fourth on a two-run single by Janik, and a passed ball. In the sixth, Quagliano homered to make it a 6-1 game, and in the bottom half, Sam Hojnar sent one out to make it 6-2. With the score at 7-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Maryland’s bats got going a bit, but too little too late. RBI singles from Elijah Lambros and Eddie Hacopian made the score 7-4, but that was all Maryland would get. Logan Koester was roughed up in Big Ten play once again lasting five innings and allowing five runs, although only three were earned. Jack Crowder pitched well for Illinois going six and giving up two.

Saturday: Maryland 9, Illinois 8

Maryland started hot in game two scoring four times in the first inning highlighted by an RBI double from Kevin Keister and an RBI single from Michael Iannazzo. However, Illinois got right back in it when Jacob Schroeder launched a three run shot in the second. The Terps would get one of them back in the bottom half when Elijah Lambros hit a solo home run, but Vytas Valincius tied the game in the third with a two run shot of his own. Devin Russell got in on the fun in the third with a two run home run breaking the tie and making it 7-5 Terps, and Eddie Hacopian singled home one more in the inning to make it 8-5. With the score at 8-6 in the seventh, Eddie Hacopian came through again with an RBI double making it 9-6. Illinois got two back in the eighth, but Logan Berrier left the tying run stranded at third. Omar Melendez made his second straight start for Maryland after a great one last weekend, but could not make it out of the third inning.

Sunday: Maryland 11, Illinois 7

In another high-scoring matchup, Maryland got on the board early again with a Chris Hacopian home run and a Brayden Martin RBI double to make it 2-0 Terps. With the score at 3-1 in the third, Sam Hojnar hit his first of two home runs in the game to give Maryland a 4-1 lead. The Terps blew the game open in the third scoring three more runs on RBI hits from Devin Russell and Eddie Hacopian. With the score at 7-1, Illinois began to make it interesting with home runs by Valincius and Connor Milton to make it 7-4. With the score at 8-4 in the top of the eighth, Valincius made it very interesting with a bases clearing double to make it an 8-7 game. But, in the bottom of the eighth, Sam Hojnar stuck the dagger in with a three-run home run, his second bomb of the day, to put the score at 11-7. Joey McMannis finally picked up his first career collegiate win going five innings and allowing three earned runs.

Takeaways

Still In It

Winning the series keeps Maryland squarely in the Big Ten Tournament hunt, currently holding the eighth and final spot in the standings. The Terps’ Big Ten “bye week” will come in two weeks, as well. Maryland (8-10) is being chased by Ohio State and Penn State. The Terps will play the Nittany Lions in the final series of the season.

Offensive Explosion

The Terps’ offense showed out big time in the last two games of the series scoring 20 runs between them. Sam Hojnar had three home runs in total on the weekend, while Eddie Hacopian had a monster weekend as well, having RBI hits in each game of the series. Elijah Lambros played a big factor as well going three for three on Saturday.

Big Weekend for Devin Russell

After seeing a lot of the recent playing time at catcher in conference play go to Alex Calarco, Russell got two starts this weekend and made the most of them. He had two key RBI hits in both Saturday and Sunday’s game including a home run on Saturday.

Up next:

The Terps will play four games this week, all away from College Park. Maryland will travel to Towson on Tuesday for their first and only matchup against the Tigers this season, then head up to New Jersey for the weekend to battle Rutgers. It’s a big opportunity for Maryland to remain in the Big Ten Tournament picture, as the Scarlet Knights are 3-12 in Big Ten play. Tuesday’s game will start at 3:00 and can be seen on FloSports. Friday’s game in Piscataway will begin at 6:30, with Saturday and Sunday’s games beginning at noon and 1. All three games can be seen on Big Ten Plus. All Maryland Baseball games can be listened to for free on the Maryland Baseball Network.