Home runs power Maryland baseball past Michigan State 18-10

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

Maryland baseball entered its seventh conference series having not won a Friday game against a Big Ten opponent.

But the Terps quickly put an end to that trend.

Maryland’s offense shined, scoring at least 16 runs for the third consecutive game and launching five home runs en route to an 18-10 win against Michigan State at McLane Stadium.

Despite struggling in prior conference series, Maryland’s offense had thrived. The Terps entered Friday’s contest ranked second in the Big Ten in runs scored, and against Michigan State starter JD Greeley, it continued that trend.

With two outs in the first inning, junior utility player David Mendez launched a ball over the left fence for a three-run homer. Mendez has been hot recently with three multi-hit games in his last four starts.

Part of Michigan State’s (14-25, 8-14 Big Ten) pitching problems came from the number of walks drawn by Maryland (21-21, 6-13 Big Ten). The Spartans had surrendered the second fewest walks in the Big Ten, but issued five walks and hit six batters on Friday.

The free passes hurt Michigan State in the second inning as the first two Maryland batters reached base on a walk and a hit by pitch. Maryland capitalized on the ensuing at-bat as catcher Devin Russell blasted Maryland’s second three-run home run of the game, giving the Terps a 6-0 lead.

Maryland’s offense continued to showcase its power as outfielders Jordan Crosland and Bud Coombs each notched home runs, giving Maryland four long balls through the first four innings. 

Junior Brayden Martin continued his NCAA-leading on-base streak, now sitting at 72 games in a row. After reaching in the second inning after getting hit by a pitch, the third baseman sent an RBI single in the third inning to continue to grow the lead. He wasn’t done sending his teammates across home plate – adding three more RBIs with the Terps’ fifth home run of the game in the fifth inning.

Martin finished going 3-3 with four RBIs. He reached base two more times on a walk and a hit by pitch.

The Terps’ offense then exploded in the eighth inning, scoring six runs on four hits to ice the game.

Junior Logan Hastings got the Friday night start. The start was just his third start of the season, as he has been primarily used out of the bullpen. But he came into the game tied for the most wins on Maryland with three.

After two innings without allowing a hit, Hastings found himself in trouble in the third. Four straight singles to start the frame sent the first two Spartans across home to cut the Terps’ lead to 8-2. Michigan State continued to score after an error, and a sacrifice fly capped a five-run inning for Michigan State.

Hastings bounced back with two straight shutout innings. While the right-hander struggled again in the sixth inning and did not finish the inning, Maryland’s massive lead prevented Michigan State from mounting a comeback.

Cristofer Cespedes took over with one out in the sixth inning. The Spartans punched another run across off another fielding error by the Terps to cut the lead to three.

But that was as close as the Spartans ever got to tying the game. A six-run eighth inning by Maryland’s offense and shutdown pitching across the final three frames by Cespedes allowed Maryland to claim an 18-10 win

The win puts Maryland in a favorable position to claim its second Big Ten series win this season on Saturday. First pitch is set for 3:30 p.m.