Devin Russell’s walk-off grand slam secures Maryland baseball’s first Big Ten series; beats Indiana 8-6

Photo by Kevin Snyder/Maryland Terrapins. Photo courtesy of Maryland Athletics.

Devin Russell blacked out as the ball left his bat en route to the center field batter’s eye.

He only started seeing things again when his teammates started mobbing him at the plate, celebrating the walk-off grand slam that secured an 8-6 win for Maryland baseball (17-19, 4-11 Big 10) over Indiana (14-20, 6-11 Big 10) on Sunday at Bob Smith Stadium. The homer also secured Maryland’s first Big Ten series win of the season.

“I think everybody dreams about that moment as a kid, and I finally got it,” Russell said. “Once I got [to the plate] I kind of knew I was going to be able to do it.”

After scoring two runs in the opening inning, Maryland’s bats went quiet against the Hoosiers. The Terps mustered just a pair of runs over the next seven innings. But the Terps had chances in those innings.

Maryland loaded the bases with one out in the sixth inning, but a lineout and a groundball to second base in the following at-bats prevented Maryland from scoring.

In the following inning, a sacrifice bunt pushed runners to second and third with two outs. But a groundout by Russell ended the inning. Yet Russell did not squander an opportunity with runners in scoring position twice.

With the bases loaded and no outs, the catcher blasted a walk-off grand slam over the batter’s eye in centerfield. 

Russell stated after the game that he was looking for Indiana’s Michael Sarhatt’s fastball to ride up in the zone, and after missing the first time, he was not going to let the second opportunity go to waste.

While Russell’s home run was his second game-ending homer of the series, this one felt more like a true walk-off.

“Yesterday, when I hit the other one, I almost tripped [on the basepath],” Russell said. “So we were making a joke that it was kind of not that cool. But this one, I had to watch it a little bit.”

Defensively, Maryland was in an interesting position heading into the game. Logan Hastings’ complete game Saturday gave Swope the opportunity to cycle his bullpen in Maryland’s rubber match against the Hoosiers.

“We can’t keep burning the bullpen early in games, regardless of whatever,” Swope said on Saturday. “So [Hastings] gunning it out after a certain amount of innings, giving us a chance and giving us some length saves the bullpen for [Sunday].”

Redshirt junior Brayden Ryan got his first start of the season for Maryland. The right-hander put in a solid performance, allowing just one run over three innings. 

But Maryland’s next two relievers struggled. The combination of Ryan Bailey and Andrew Koshy surrendered four runs over one combined inning, giving the Hoosiers a 4-2 lead heading into the bottom of the fifth inning.

While Austin Weiss minimized any further damage by Indiana, his outing was cut short after he waved to the dugout after clutching his forearm on a pitch that missed outside. Swope then turned to Lance Williams for the final 2.2 innings, who shut out Indiana and aided Maryland in mounting a comeback in the final frame.

Maryland will stay at home for a midweek game against the Towson Tigers.