Maryland baseball secures comeback win over Georgia Southern in season opener, 5-4

With two outs and a man on second base, Georgia Southern looked to tie the game at five.

A deep drive by JD Kaiser to left field seemed like it would do so, but Brayden Martin made an incredible running catch in left field to seal Maryland’s season opener, 5-4.

“They grinded it out,” coach Matt Swope said. “I got to give them credit; the energy was good the whole time [and] I thought we played well. We built up some innings, [but] we just couldn’t push through early. I thought the process was good on offense and defense and I’m glad they stuck with it and came out the end with a win.”

The game was a pitcher’s duel through the first three innings as Kenny Lippman and Thomas Higgins shined. Lippman went four innings, giving up two runs, but no earned runs were allowed. He also notched five strikeouts. Higgins shined, throwing five innings and smothering the Terps’ (1-0) offense. He gave up just four hits and allowed no runs.

The Eagles (0-1) struck first in the bottom of the fourth inning, starting with a miscommunication between Sam Hojnar and Eddie Hacopian. A walk and an infield single then loaded the bases, but Lippman retired two straight to have an opportunity to escape a bases-loaded jam. But a walk to Daniel Haab scored Sean White from third, and a wild pitch scored Kaiser to give Georgia Southern a 2-0 lead.

Lippman was relieved by Logan Berrier in the following inning, and the Eagles struck again as a sacrifice fly to right by Kaiser brought home White.

Jacob Phillips relieved Higgins in the top of the sixth, allowing the Terps to respond. Hojnar led off the inning with a triple to deep center, and Keister then drove him home with an infield single up the middle. But three-straight strikeouts from Phillips smothered Maryland’s rally.

Walks plagued the Maryland pitching staff all night, and a two-out free pass to Luke Odden gave Georgia Southern a chance to respond. The Eagles did just that as Josh Tate doubled to deep left with two outs to score Odden from first, extending the Eagles’ lead to 4-1. 

But the Terps didn’t quit as their bottom of the order delivered meaningful runs. No. 9 hitter Jacob Orr cut the lead to 4-3 with a bomb over the left field fence in the top of the seventh, bringing them within one over the final third of the game. 

“I felt pretty good after the first two at-bats, felt like I was on the ball,” Orr said. “He was throwing me a lot of changeups, so [with] two strikes, I was kind of looking for it. That’s what I got, so just put a good swing on it. I was just glad I could help the team and bring it within one.”

A pair of perfect innings by Berrier gave Maryland its chance to take control. Coming from the bottom of its order again, No. 7 hitter Devin Russell lined a two-out single into left field, scoring Hacopian from second to tie the game for Maryland in the eighth inning. Then in the top of the ninth, Hojnar drove a sacrifice fly to center field to score Orr from third.

Georgia Southern had a chance to tie the game with two outs and White on second in the bottom of the ninth. But Martin had other plans, securing the win for Maryland.