Maryland baseball clinches series victory over Indiana with dominant 16-2 win

It’s hard to win a baseball game in a more dominant fashion than by a final score of 13-2, the score of Maryland’s victory over Indiana on Friday night.

But the Terps (29-15, 10-4 Big Ten) found a way on Saturday, drubbing the Hoosiers (31-13, 9-5 Big Ten) for the second-straight game in a 16-2 slaughter. The win separates Maryland from Indiana at the top of the Big Ten standings and marks the Terps’ 20th-straight Big Ten series without a series defeat.

“[Friday and today] were the two best games of the year by a longshot. Just really complete in all facets,” coach Rob Vaughn said. “I thought our starting pitching the last two days was absolutely elite. I thought [Nick] Dean was unbelievable yesterday, Kyle McCoy outstanding today, and then just super relentless offensively. Just tough at bats up and down the lineup.”

Maryland jumped out to an early lead almost immediately in the first.

Junior catcher Luke Shliger opened the game with a single, and a double off the bat of junior shortstop Matt Shaw brought him in. Shaw advanced to third after two straight groundouts, but fifth-year right fielder Matt Woods struck out looking to end the threat. 

The Terps expanded their lead to 2-0 in the second, picking up a run after a leadoff double from sophomore center fielder Elijah Lambros, a sacrifice bunt from sophomore third baseman Jacob Orr and a single from junior second baseman Kevin Keister. 

Indiana responded in the bottom-half of the frame. 

The hoosiers put runners on first and second with a single and a hit-by-pitch, and then a single off the bat of freshman third baseman Josh Pyne brought a run in. Indiana was still threatening with runners at first and second and no outs, but a fielder’s choice and double play got the Terps out of the inning with limited damage. 

Maryland’s offense picked up again in the fourth inning after a scoreless third. Shliger cranked one over the fence in center after a Keister leadoff single to give the Terps a 4-1 lead, giving starter Kyle McCoy breathing room on the mound.

McCoy settled in for the Terps after the second inning. He held the Hoosiers scoreless over the next five frames, with the only Indiana threat occuring in the fifth. McCoy allowed three batters to reach with two walks and a single after two quick outs, bringing Indiana’s three-hole hitter Devin Taylor to the plate. But the freshman right fielder grounded out, getting McCoy out of the jam.

Vaughn had nothing but praise when asked about McCoy’s performance. 

“That guy just doesn’t flinch. At one point I looked up and he was in the third inning and he had thrown like 18 pitches,” Vaughn said. “A lot of weak early contact and he can dial it up when he needs to.”

The Terps continued to add to their totals over the next few frames, including a monster eighth inning. 

Shliger walked to start the sixth, and then Shaw absolutely unloaded on a fastball, sending it over the center field fence. Shaw’s third homer in as many games extended Maryland’s lead to 6-1. 

Shliger led off the eighth with a double and then stole third, and a Shaw walk put two Terps on with nobody out. A throwing error on a pickoff attempt to first scored Shliger and sent Shaw to second, which was followed up with a balk and a Nick Lorusso single to score Shaw, and the floodgates opened after that. 

Sophomore left fielder Ian Petrutz was hit by a pitch and sophomore first baseman Eddie Hacopian singled to load the bases for Woods, who smashed an opposite-field grand slam into the Hoosiers bullpen to give the Terps a 12-1 lead. 

Keister ripped a double in the right center gap to score two, and the inning finally ended after two groundouts and a strikeout, but not before Keister scored on a wild pitch to pick up another run, giving Maryland a 15-1 lead after the eighth frame.

Petrutz gave the Terps their fourth home run of the day in the ninth inning with a solo shot that made it 16-1. Junior left-hander Logan Ott closed out the game in the bottom-half after sophomore left-hander Andrew Johnson gave up a solo homerun for Indiana’s second run.

The 14-run victory sets up a sweep opportunity on Sunday.