After first series win in 2025, Maryland baseball looks to stay hot vs. James Madison

Oliver Schaack
May 6
3 min read

One day after men's lacrosse took down Penn State in the Big Ten Tournament semifinal game, Maryland had a chance to extend its hurt against the Nittany Lions, this time in baseball. And after a season filled with shortcomings as head coach Matt Swope inches his team back toward .500, Maryland baseball secured its first series win of the 2025 season.

Eddie and Chris Hacopian teamed up as each notched a home run on Friday night, the fourth time the brothers have done so in the same game, to lead Maryland to a 7-4 win in State College. Brayden Martin followed it up with the game-winning solo home run in the 11th inning on Saturday to lift Maryland to a 12-11 win, two innings after RBI singles from the Hacopian twins tied the game.

Maryland’s series win against Penn State this past weekend featured lots of offense, including a six-hit performance from Chris Hacopian in game two of the series as he tied a program record for hits in a game that was last achieved in 2020 by former All-American Chris “Bubba” Alleyne.

The star sophomore shortstop raised his season average to a ridiculous .370 to go with 10 home runs and 52 RBIs following the Penn State series. He ranks inside the top 10 of the conference in RBIs, batting average, and on-base percentage.

Hollis Porter also had a hot weekend at the plate with two homers to his name. Porter heads into the midweek with 20 home runs, the second most in the Big Ten behind Oregon’s Mason Neville. He’s also second in the conference with 60 runs batted in. His inaugural season in College Park has been incredible at the plate for Head Coach Matt Swope.

On the heels of their first series victory of the entire season, Maryland baseball will continue to make one final push to get into the Big Ten Conference Tournament, and it starts tomorrow in their final midweek matchup of the year against the James Madison Dukes.

Maryland heads into first pitch with a 22-27 overall record and an 8-16 conference record. They sit 16th out of 18 teams in the overall standings and look to make a strong push into the Big Ten Conference Tournament with a strong finish in the regular season. Without cracking the top twelve in the conference standings for a conference bid, on top of winning the conference tournament, Maryland has zero chance of making the NCAA tournament.

The Dirty Terps got the best of the Dukes earlier this season in their only previous matchup, winning 8-4 back in early March. Freshman Jake Yeager threw a gem on the mound, twirling five innings of one-run ball. At the plate, Calarco’s four-RBI day led the charge in the victory. Calarco was a mid-season Golden Spikes Award Watch List Nominee and is having the best season of his college career.

The pitching staff comes into Tuesday incredibly taxed after this weekend. Maryland’s 6.83 team earned run average is the third highest in the conference, and has issued 251 walks as a staff, which is the second highest mark in the Big Ten. Besides Friday night starter Kyle McCoy, there have not been any consistent arms across the staff to complement what has been an offense that can put runs on the board in bunches.

The Dukes also sport a rough overall record on the season, currently at 15-33. It’s also the program where Maryland’s current pitching coach, Jimmy Jackson, spent eight seasons as an assistant coach and associate head coach from 2016-2023.

There’s no way around it for Maryland - every single game is a must-win for the Terps. Swope and his program are dangerously close to missing the NCAA Tournament for the second straight season since Swope took over as Head Coach. It’s a long shot on the outside looking in, but the mission to sneak into the postseason starts with a win against the Dukes.

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