Maryland baseball falls to Michigan, 9-4, snapping series win streak

Maryland baseball split the first two games of its weekend series against Michigan. The series finale started as a back-and-forth affair. Mack Timbrook then blew the game wide open in the seventh inning.

Timbrook took an 0-1 fastball over the heart of the plate and blasted a towering three-run home run over the left field fence. The home run expanded Michigan’s lead to five, allowing the Wolverines to cruise past the Terps in Ann Arbor on Sunday, 9-4, to take the series.

The series loss is Maryland’s first since losing to Ole Miss in February last season and its first Big Ten series defeat since April 2021. The series loss snapped the Terps’ 23-consecutive series win streak over conference opponents.

“Everyone’s been talking about the streak,” coach Matt Swope said. “There’s a lot of hard work that got put into that. Super proud of all those years…but that’s baseball. It’s gonna be hard for you to win every single series.“

Mitch Voit made the start for the Wolverines. Voit was coming off an excellent performance in his previous start against Penn State despite entering with a 6.67 ERA, allowing just two earned runs through 7.1 innings. Voit was efficient against the Terps, going seven-plus innings and striking out six.

Voit has served as a two-way player for Michigan due to some injuries to the team’s pitching staff. He helped out his own cause with a two-run home run to left in the bottom of the sixth.

Another two-way player — Will Rogers — gave the Wolverines an early lead in the second inning by driving a one-out double into the right-field corner. A two-out self-inflicted wound on a throwing error by Kevin Keister allowed Michigan to double its lead to 2-0.

A Collin Priest RBI base hit in the next inning extended the Wolverines’ advantage.

Michigan’s offense added another run following a scoreless bottom of the fifth as Cole Caruso squeezed a two-out base hit just past a diving Eddie Hacopian to bring home Stephen Hrustich. Voit and Timbrook’s blasts pushed the Wolverines into a comfortable win.

Caruso had terrorized the Terps’ pitching staff over the first two games of the series. He entered the day 7-9 at the plate with four RBIs. Caruso continued his excellent weekend on Sunday, going 2-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.

Joey McMannis has shown consistent improvement throughout the season, going deeper into games in each of his last four starts. He couldn’t do that against Michigan, completing just four innings after going six innings in his prior start.

But McMannis still put in a solid performance for the Terps, surrendering just two earned runs and getting out of multiple jams to avoid a worse outing.

While McMannis was able to keep the Terps within striking distance, Maryland’s bullpen was unable to do so. Four pitchers were used, allowing six runs over the final four innings.

Saturday’s game got away from the Terps, who fell into an eight-run hole early and couldn’t respond. Their bats responded on Sunday. 

Maryland started the fourth inning with three consecutive knocks. A pair of those hits were home runs to left field from Hacopian and Keister, allowing the Terps to even the score at three.

Maryland continued to strike in the following inning, as Elijah Lambros blasted the team’s third home run of the game over the left-field fence. The solo home run gave Maryland its first lead of the afternoon.

But the Terps’ offense went silent after Lambros’ home run. They failed to score over the final four frames, unable to rebound after Michigan went back in front in the bottom of the sixth.

“This is the first time we’ve faced any adversity,” Swope said. “This is not gonna be the first, it’s not gonna be the last. It’s really about how you respond in these types of moments that matter as a team.”

Maryland will look to get back in the win column when it faces UMBC on Tuesday.