Photo courtesy of Ian Cox/Maryland Terrapins
With the bases loaded in the top of the seventh, Jack Wren came on the mound to face junior Jeremy Sheffield. On a 2-1 pitch, Sheffield crushed the grad students’ pitch over the right field wall for a grand slam.
That gave the Georgetown Hoyas (12-20) a 10-5 lead over the Maryland Terrapins (14-19, 3-9 Big Ten), a lead that would hold for the rest of the game, with the Hoyas eventually winning 11-7 on Tuesday in College Park. The two played for the second time this season, for the Terps’ first midweek game of the week.
Sophomore pitcher Joey McMannis makes his first start since March 9th in his twelfth appearance of the year.
McMannis enters Tuesday’s game with a 10.47 ERA in 16.1 innings pitched. He had started his first four games of the year as a weekend starter but found his way to the bullpen after a couple of bad outings. He has been better coming out of the bullpen, allowing seven earned runs in his seven appearances.
McMannis would end his day on the mound, allowing five earned runs off of five hits and two walks in three innings pitched.
Freshman Logan Hastings came out of the bullpen for the Terps for the first time since February 25th. Hastings had been a steady starter but had two straight bad outings against Northwestern and Illinois.
In his first inning, he collected three straight outs. He came back out in the fifth inning and couldn’t seem to find the strike zone. He loaded the bases with the first three batters he faced. He then got two outs, including a sac-fly, and ended his day out of the bullpen with 1.2 innings pitched and one earned run.
“He’s not getting out of the first [inning] in his last two starts, he’s got to pitch, he’s not pitching enough, so we’re trying to get him in the game get him some good rhythm,” head coach Matt Swope said.
The Terps got their scoring started with an RBI groundout by junior Aden Hill in the second inning that brought home redshirt sophomore Hollis Porter.
Porter would get up to the plate in the third inning and would launch a ball 411 feet down the right field line for a three-run home run that would tie the game at five apiece. That was Porter’s 14th home run of the season.
The Terps would fail to score again until the eighth inning despite having plenty of leadoff opportunities and having the bases loaded in the fifth inning.
In the eighth inning, senior Eddie Hacopian would hit an RBI single, bringing home senior Elijah Lambros. Hacopian had a rough day at second base, finishing with two errors. He has struggled in the infield all year, having eight errors on the season after Tuesday’s game.
The Terps would get the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and got one home with an RBI single from Hill, before Freshman Parker Corbin struck out to end the game.
“Good to see them guys build it up at the end right there,” Swope said.
The Terps’ pitching staff has undergone tons of changes over the past few weeks, and today McMannis started and Hastings came off the bench for the first time in over a month.
“Everything is on the table, everything, we’re trying every which way to put these guys in situations where they’ll be successful,” head coach Matt Swope said.
Another change to the lineup was freshman Jacob Hauk making his first start at catcher and senior Alex Calarco taking a game at designated hitter.
Huak had a successful starting debut hitting 1-for-2 and getting on base twice from walks.
“Calarco is just smoked, I mean he’s caught every game almost, and he’s a very large human being, and he’s tired, so it’s as simple as trying to give him a break,” Swope said. He also mentioned the injury to junior Devin Russell being very impactful as it has forced Calarco to catch every game.
Grad student Nadell Booker made his first start of the year in his eleventh appearance on the mound for the Hoyas. He came into the game with an 8.56 ERA in 13.2 innings.
Booker finished his outing, only pitching two innings and allowing one run after allowing two walks and only one hit.
The Hoyas started the scoring in the first inning after an RBI single by sophomore Blake Schaaf.
Schaaf would bring home their second run in the third inning after an RBI fly out brought home Jackson Thomas. In that third inning, they would score three more runs after a two-out rally got the bases loaded. An RBI single from Jaden Sheffield brought home two runs, and a final run came home after McMannis threw a wild pitch.
The following innings saw the Hoyas fail to convert on opportunities. After having the bases loaded with one out both in the fifth and the sixth inning, the Hoyas only scored a run on a sacrifice fly.
When they had the bases loaded for the third inning in a row, however, they took advantage with the Sheffield grand slam in the seventh inning.
The Hoyas added an insurance run in the eighth inning when grad student Kavi Caster hit an RBI double.
The Terps have now lost five in a row after being swept at Illinois. The Terps have split their two games against Georgetown and will have a third game at Georgetown on Tuesday, April 29th.
But for now, the Terps travel to Delaware to play their second midweek game of the week on Wednesday and will look to avenge their 10-13 loss from earlier in the season.
