Maryland baseball stays hot with sweep vs. Minnesota

Oliver Schaack
5 days ago
3 min read

The tides have turned for Maryland Baseball, as a 11-10 victory this afternoon versus Minnesota completed the series sweep, their first this season.

The bats continued to produce for the Dirty Terps even with the absence of one of their best sluggers Hollis Porter. The big first baseman exited game two of the series after a big collision in Maryland’s series clinching victory on Saturday.

Elijah Lambros got the scoring started for the Terps with a two-run single off Minnesota starter Luke Ryerse. Senior captain Eddie Hacopian got the boys going with an early solo homer in the third inning and a RBI-single as well a couple innings later.

The first five innings were smooth sailing for Coach Swope’s bunch, jumping out to a big 7-1 lead. Starting pitcher Omar Melendez looked to be putting together his best appearance in just his fifth start of the season.

After taking on two more in the top of the sixth inning, the good times came to a complete halt however, as trouble started to brew for Maryland and Melendez.

The Gophers finally found their groove at the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning. After Melendez got the best of Minnesota’s lineup the first two times through the order, he failed to record an out in the sixth before being pulled.

What was once an outstanding performance turned into disaster for the 6’6 southpaw from Puerto Rico. His final statline finished with six runs over five innings.

Entering the eighth inning, the score was 9-7 Maryland as they searched for any amount of insurance that they could find to push off a late-innings comeback from Minnesota. With a little help from erratic Gopher pitching, the Terps got run number ten as Eddie Hacopian scored on a wild pitch. Moments later, the hometown kid and freshman slugger Paul Jones II drove in another run to make the score 11-7.

Jones II is a Minnesota native and finished the weekend with six runs batted in, and makes a serious case to be a main-stay in the everyday lineup for the Terps the rest of the 2025 season.

Minnesota continued their climb to regain and immediately responded to Maryland’s two-run eighth with a three-spot of their own. The stage was set, 11-10 Maryland heading into the ninth.

Maryland was held scoreless in the top half of the frame, giving the Gophers one last chance to avoid a series sweep. Ryan Van Buren was on the bump trying to complete the two-inning save after he came into the ballgame in the eighth.

He walked the tightrope after a less than productive eighth inning that was tipped off by a Chris Hacopian error. The veteran right-hander, however, tapped into his veteran experience as a part of Maryland’s staff, and found a way to get the job done for the Terps.

The win Sunday marks their first series sweep since they swept Bryant in March of 2024, and their first sweep in Big-10 play since April of 2023 against Indiana. The Terps now move to 26-27 on the season and 11-16 in conference play.

Their climb to sneak into the Big-10 Conference Tournament continues, as the sweep was a massive step in the right direction. The next and final step is their final regular season series of the year against Rutgers this upcoming weekend. Rutgers and Maryland are both in the same position fighting to solidify a seed in the conference tournament.

Last year, they were the Cardiac Terps. This year, it’s going to take those same type of heroics to get where Matt Swope and his program want to go.

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