Freshman Kyle McCoy, who had the best start of his young career last Tuesday against UMBC, got the nod over usual Sunday starter Nate Haberthier against Maine on Sunday.
But Haberthier still got his chance to shine in relief. And shine he did.
In a bit of a jam in the top of the seventh, Haberthier allowed runners to reach first and third with one out. The Ohio State transfer, in the biggest moment of his young Maryland career, struck out two straight batters to end the inning before letting out a roaring scream.
“That’s a really big confidence booster for me,” Haberthier said. “I’ve had two good starts, and then with that right there, that’s big for [me].”
McCoy and Haberthier combined to throw seven innings, allowing just three hits and one run while striking out 11. Along with the dominant pitching, nine runs on 13 drawn walks by the offense gave Maryland baseball (8-7) the cushion it needed to down Maine (3-9), 9-1, and earn its first series sweep of the season.
“We talked about us trying to get guys in the right spots,” coach Rob Vaughn said. “[McCoy] was really efficient and really, really good setting the tone at the beginning. And then that was a really good version of Nate, he was outstanding.”
Vaughn has spoken about wanting to bring along McCoy gradually in order to save his arm for the later months of the season. But due to Haberthier’s early season struggles (12.1 IP, 8.76 ERA), Vaughn elected to start the freshman left-hander.
“Oh, they’re both the most mature kids in the world,” Vaughn said. “We told Nate, like, ‘Hey, you’ve thrown the ball fine.’ You look at the record, you look at maybe some certain things and we didn’t win. That wasn’t necessarily his fault … he really did everything we asked him to do. And we just said ‘Hey, you know, we think this can play, we can get six to nine outs with Kyle beginning today and then flip the ball to you’.”
McCoy remained perfect through the second, striking out the last two hitters of the frame and throwing only 19 pitches through two innings. But the freshman made his first mistake in the third, leaving a ball over the middle of the plate for senior catcher Colby Emmertz.
Emmertz took full advantage, crushing the ball over the fence in left field for a solo shot, giving the Black Bears a 1-0 lead.
After a relatively calm first two innings for Maine starter Noah Lewis, the junior right-hander faced his first jam in the third.
After walking the first two batters, senior third baseman Nick Lorusso grounded into a fielder’s choice. The Black Bears then chose to intentionally walk junior shortstop Matt Shaw, loading the bases for sophomore designated hitter Ian Petrutz. Petrutz was pegged, bringing in the first runner of the game for the Terps.
Lewis proceeded to hit two more Maryland batters and walk another, ultimately giving the Terps a 4-1 lead by the end of the inning. The junior had thrown 73 pitches through the first three innings as the Terps hitters remained patient and worked the count.
“We always just try to — early in the counts — look for pitches over the plate,” junior second baseman Kevin Keister said. “They weren’t throwing pitches over the plate, we were taking, and it just happened they were walking us.”
Meanwhile, Haberthier still ended up getting his Sunday work, replacing McCoy after three innings. McCoy was perfect outside of the Emmertz homer in the third, throwing just 32 pitches while striking out three.
After a Black Bear pitching change, Keister sent a rope to the gap in left field, scoring Shaw and Lorusso. The Terps led 6-1 after four innings; only two of those runs came off hits, with the other four coming off walks and hit-by-pitches.
Both pitchers settled into a groove in the next few innings.
Haberthier ran into a bit of trouble in the seventh, allowing a double and a single to his second and third batters. But the junior right-hander hunkered down with men on first and third, striking out the next two batters to end the inning in dramatic fashion.
The offense continued to hum in the seventh, as senior left fielder Bobby Zmarzlak sent a towering shot over the fence in right to give the Terps a 7-1 lead.
In the bottom of the eighth, fifth-year right fielder Matt Woods smashed the Terps’ second homer in just as many innings, extending the lead to seven. Zmarzlak then smacked a double off the elevated fence in center, and sophomore centerfielder Elijah Lambros drove in Zmarzlak with a double of his own to the gap in center, giving the Terps an eight-run cushion in the ninth.
Redshirt junior right-hander David Falco Jr. closed the door with two sound innings of relief, and Maryland walked away going above .500 for the first time since Feb. 24.
“I liked the way we pitched the ball today,” Vaughn said. “That is something that we really needed. I mean, it was just a lack of freebies … when you run stuff out like those three guys have … it’s just gonna be really hard to generate runs.
