Photo by Ian Cox/Maryland Terrapins
Maryland baseball entered Friday’s contest struggling with fast starts. The Terps had surrendered at least four runs in the opening frame of their past two contests.
But Chris and Eddie Hacopian quickly changed that trend, driving two first-inning home runs over the left field fence.
Maryland (21-25, 7-15) built off that early lead and cruised to a 7-4 win over the Penn State Nittany Lions (26-18, 12-13) in the series opener at Medlar Field.
Maryland’s ace Kyle McCoy got the start on the mound for the twelfth straight Friday start. The redshirt sophomore entered the game with a 3.27 ERA in 66.0 innings pitched.
McCoy has been the most consistent pitcher in an otherwise inconsistent pitching staff. He has been asked to go deep into the Friday games in order to keep options open in the pitching staff for the rest of the series.
“I definitely didn’t expect to come in and throw as much as I’ve had, but fortunately things have gone well,” McCoy said, “I’ve been able to pitch deep into the games and my arm has felt great … and week to week my arm recovers really well.”
The left-hander once again went deep into the series opener with 103 pitches through six innings pitched. He continued his consistency of drilling the strike zone, finishing with five strikeouts. McCoy ended his day with seven hits and three runs — none of which were earned.
McCoy’s lone struggles came in the third and fourth innings. The Terps’ defense fell into early-season form, committing three errors throughout the two innings, contributing to the Nittany Lions’ first three runs.
“He’s been steady, we know what we’re going to get from him every Friday,” head coach Matt Swope said. “I think the guys kinda rally around that, but I think the guys [have] a little bit of extra confidence when he’s on the mound.”
In prior games that McCoy pitched, Maryland’s bullpen had faltered. But this time, Maryland’s bullpen was potent as Logan Hastings finished the game. The freshman put in one of his best outings all season, surrendering just one run, which came in the final inning. Hastings’ three innings of work allowed him to collect his second career save.
“Kyle’s been an ace all year, you know we’ve let him down, I think he’d be in the running for conference pitcher of the year if we could close some of these out,” said Swope.
On the mound for Penn State was Ryan DeSanto. The junior entered the contest as one of the two consistent starters for the Nittany Lions, along with sophomore Mason Horwat. DeSanto was more reliable coming into Friday’s game, sporting a 3.58 ERA throughout 55.1 innings pitched.
But the Terps got to DeSanto in the early frames, scoring four runs in the first three innings. The Terps utilized the short left field wall at Medlar Field, driving three home runs over into the left field stands.
“We knew he liked to throw a lot of fastballs … [and] it wasn’t too overpowering to us today,” infielder Jacon Orr said. “I thought a lot of our guys did a good job of being on time, and he liked to use his change-up a lot, at least to the righties, … and those were the guys that did a lot of damage early.”
Maryland added three more runs between the fifth and sixth innings, resulting in DeSanto’s worst of the year. The left-hander had allowed no more than four runs in a single outing this season. But DeSanto left Friday’s contest, surrendering six earned runs, along with seven hits and three walks through five innings.
Jacob Orr was a big part of those six runs. The senior had a big game from the plate for the Terps, hitting 3-for-5, with a double and a home run.
But when the Penn State bullpen entered the game, Maryland’s offense started to waver. The Terps scored six runs in the first five innings, but only managed one run off the Nittany Lions’ bullpen.
But Hastings’ dominant performance after relieving McCoy allowed the Terps to secure game one of the series.
The Terps will now look to Saturday and Sunday’s games to collect their first Big Ten series win this season.
