In need of an offensive punch in an eighth inning 6-6 deadlock, Maryland’s offense delivered just that.
After a leadoff hit-by-pitch of Elijah Lambros, Luke Shliger nearly put the Terps up two with a fly ball that was caught on the warning track. Nick Lorusso quickly responded by sending a ball of his own off the left-field fence, scoring Lambros.
The Terps then loaded the bases for Kevin Keister, who walked to extend Maryland’s lead to two.
The scoring wouldn’t stop there, though.
Matt Woods broke out of his slump in a big way, clearing the bases with a triple down the right field line. After recording only two RBIs through his first six games, Bryant the transfer more than doubled that output with one swing.
“It absolutely felt good,” Woods said. “We preach process, sticking to that process, sticking to that plan. And it fell today where it hasn’t in the past.”
Maryland baseball (5-7) used huge third and eighth innings, along with respectable multiple-inning outings from Kyle McCoy and Logan Ott, to secure a needed victory over UMBC (4-4) Tuesday evening.
McCoy received his first career start last week against Delaware, going one inning before receiving the early plug. Coach Rob Vaughn has had a tight leash on McCoy as he adjusts to his first season at the collegiate level, wanting to save the freshman for later in the season.
Against the Retrievers, McCoy came out firing, inducing four ground balls and recording a strikeout on 20 pitches through the first two innings. The 6-foot-6 left-hander looked poised and in command through the first two frames.
McCoy got into a jam in the top of the third, allowing two runs on a walk and two singles. With his pitch count ballooning to 41, Vaughn left the freshman in to begin the bottom of the third.
Maryland’s offense got on base plenty to begin the game, with multiple baserunners reaching in each of the first three frames. The Terps took advantage of the Retrievers’ erratic pitching, recording four walks and two hit by pitches through three innings.
But it wasn’t until the third frame — as the Terps recorded four singles and drew three walks, bringing in five runs — when the offense broke out in a big way.
“Every half-hour this morning, I sent them a video of them hitting homers last year,” Vaughn said. “I sent 122 homers to them so they could remind themselves, ‘Hey, we’re good. We can hit’.”
With a three-run cushion, McCoy took the mound again in the fourth, returning to his early-inning form with another one-two-three frame.
McCoy was replaced by junior left-hander Ott to start the fifth, ultimately turning in the longest outing of his young career. The freshman threw 52 pitches, striking out one on two hits, allowing two earned runs and one walk in four innings. Despite only fanning one, McCoy was a ground-ball machine, producing seven of his 12 outs on them.
“[McCoy’s] ball has action to it,” Vaughn said. “There’s some velocity, that changeup and slider are getting better and he throws a ton of strikes. So there’s just gonna be weak contact, and weak contact allows those pitchers to stay in the game a long time.”
UMBC shuffled through pitchers early after playing a doubleheader against St. Peter’s and Delaware State on Sunday. The Retrievers rotated through four arms in the first five frames as Maryland worked its counts with a patient approach, drawing five walks.
Freshman first baseman Leewood Molessa quickly put the Retrievers back in the game in the top of the sixth with a two-run shot over the left-centerfield fence. Molessa has been a force in his first year for the Retrievers, collecting two homers and 13 runs batted in through his first eight games.
Outside of Maryland’s offensive outburst in the third and fourth frames, the lineup was relatively sluggish. The Terps recorded no hits in the fifth through seventh innings, and the lack of run support slowly allowed the Retrievers to close the gap on Maryland’s lead.
Molessa continued to rake, sending in two more Retrievers on an RBI double down the left-field line in the top of the eighth. Ott, despite throwing two routine innings of relief, allowed Molessa to single handedly bring in four runs in the other two, evening the score at six.
In the bottom of the eighth, Maryland’s offense once again came alive.
Lorusso, Keister, Woods and Hacopian all produced at least one run in a massive six-run outburst, giving Maryland the push it needed to close out the Retrievers.
“One thing we talked about is just not chasing homers,” Vaughn said. “Keep chasing quality at-bats. When the bases are loaded, I don’t need a homer. Just do your job and string together quality at-bats. And I thought we did that tonight.”
Ott slammed the door in the ninth, ultimately turning in five innings on four runs, as the Terps only needed two arms to pull out the victory.
“I think you’ll see a lot of [pitchers] shuffling different ways,” Vaughn said. “We’re comfortable using [Ott] in any situation we can. We’re still trying to get [McCoy] in the right spot.”
