Photo courtesy of Ian Cox/Maryland Terrapins
In the bottom of the eighth, with two outs, the Terps were looking to preserve a three-run lead. Kyle McCoy, who started on the mound, threw a strikeout against Ryan Pruitt. That was his 106th pitch, a career-high for the pitcher coming off Tommy John surgery.
Maryland baseball (10-8, 1-2 Big Ten) traveled to Tampa to face the South Florida Bulls (7-8) on Friday and came away with a 5-2 win in the first game of the three-game weekend series.
McCoy had four starts before Friday’s game, in which he pitched 23.1 innings with a 1.93 ERA and has only allowed eighteen hits and four walks. He has a 2-0 record in these four games.
The star pitcher continued his success in the first game of the weekend, ending the game with eight innings pitched, and only one earned run. He made sure to pound the strike zone with seven strikeouts, and 73 of his 106 pitches were strikes.
McCoy started to slow down in the bottom of the sixth when he allowed his only earned run of the game. He allowed a double and a triple in the inning with two deep fly-outs added to that. Head coach Matt Swope kept him in there for two more innings in which he pitched them both scorelessly.
“Fortunately they were making a lot of contact early, getting quick outs, kept the pitch count low, which was able to help me back end of the game, you know when my pitch count was running up a bit in those last couple of innings,” said McCoy on his long start today.
On the other side, redshirt junior Corey Braun took the start for USF. Braun has been the best pitcher so far for the Bulls, entering the game Braun had 24.1 innings pitched with a 2.59 ERA in four starts.
Sophomore Brayden Martin had a strong outing as the leadoff hitter, hitting 4-for-5 and making it home for a run. Martin finished the game with four singles including a perfectly executed bunt and the first pitch of the game which he took to center field.
The Terps started their scoring in the first inning after Martin’s lead-off hit. Senior Eddie Hacopian got walked and the Terps followed that up with an RBI sacrifice fly from Senior Alex Calarco and an RBI single from Aden Hill which put the Terps up 2-0 early.
The Terps would not lose the lead for the rest of the game. Letting up only two runs in two separate innings.
The Terps added to their lead in the fifth inning after getting the bases loaded with one out. The Bulls went on to walk Calarco and then Hill added his second RBI of the game after a fielder’s choice brought home Eddie Hacopian.
The four-and-five batters, Calarco and Hill ended the game with two RBIs a piece, despite Calarco ending the game without a hit–a true testament to the lead-off batters.
With sophomore Michael Iannazzo being out after a pitch hit him in the face on Tuesday in a game against Virginia, the Terps looked to sophomore EJ Hankerson.
Hankerson has five appearances on the season, hitting 2-for-4 with a walk. With his first start of the season, Hankerson hit 2-for-3, including a lead-off double—a really solid job filling in at pinch hitter.
“He’s a lefty guy, you know you try and give him a chance with a righty in there,” said Swope on the decision that led to Hankerson getting the start. “He’s a great kid, he’s worked really hard and hasn’t gotten much opportunity since he’s been here and he deserves it, so you know I gave him an opportunity. I told him right before the game, and he delivered, got us going in that one inning, had a couple really good at-bats. Couldn’t be more happy for a kid like that.”
The story of the game however, was the Terp’s defense, who only allowed two runs, the lowest mark since the game against Princeton in Winston-Salem earlier in the season, which was also pitched by Kyle McCoy.
Most of the Terps’ wins so far this year have been due to the offensive performances, as the defense has struggled—averaging over six runs a game on the season. Friday was a different story as the Terps’ batting was afforded to slack as McCoy and the defense carried the load.
Sophomore Joey McMannis closed the game for the Terps, allowing two walks and striking out the last batter of the game.
McMannis started in his first four appearances this season where he struggled. Swope used him in the ninth inning of Wednesday’s game against Mount St. Mary’s and then again Friday to close the game. He pitched a scoreless inning in both games.
“We’re still trying to find roles for everybody, we’re trying to figure it out, so you know [McMannis] has got really really good stuff, and we’ve struggled on the back end,” said Swope. “He may start on Sunday, he may not, but it’s just one of those things right now where we’re just going into weekends trying to win the game at hand, and let’s win the game at hand, and worry about the starters later on.”
The Terps will now look to win their first three-game series on Saturday at 2 p.m.
