Chris Hacopian clobbered a 3-1 Ryan Reed offering to left field in the bottom of the second. The ball sailed way over the wall for a two-run home run, breaking the game open as the Terps took a seven-run lead.
Maryland baseball cruised the rest of the way to secure a 10-4 win, handing Pittsburgh its first loss of the season. The victory was the second game this season the Terps scored double-digit runs.
“I have to give the guys credit, they were just relentless in that second inning punching through,” coach Matt Swope said.
Maryland’s offense came early in its second game of the Kleberg Bank College Classic — the Terps (5-1) exploded for seven runs in the second inning against the Panthers (4-1).
Some of Maryland’s veterans got the rally started as junior outfielders Jacob Orr and Elijah Lambros hit back-to-back RBI singles that brought two runs home, giving the Terps their first lead of the game. The explosive second inning continued with Sam Hojnar going the other way, hitting a bases clearing double, extending Maryland’s lead to 5-0.
Hacopian’s second home run of the season then punctuated the frame as the Terps batted around in the second inning.
Pittsburgh turned to its bullpen early as Reed only lasted three innings. Maryland struggled to muster much offense against reliever Ben Kovel, who made his Panthers debut. Kovel pitched two innings, allowing two hits and one run, the sole run being an Eddie Hacopian sacrifice fly in the fifth inning.
The Terps’ lineup went to work again in the seventh with a two-out rally, providing some insurance runs with Hojnar coming up huge.
Hojnar was a major pick up by Swope in the transfer portal, proving to be a gem just a week into the season. Hojnar ripped an RBI double off the right center field wall in the bottom of the seventh for his eighth RBI of the weekend alone. The redshirt senior leads Maryland with 12 RBIs on the young season.
Chris Hacopian continued his strong start as well, driving Hojnar home with an RBI single to push the Terps’ lead to 10-4 in the next at bat.
“Chris is special,” Swope said. “He’s going to get better everyday, he’s one of the best freshmen in the country and it’s great to see Sam come together the last couple of days.”
Maryland starting pitcher Logan Koester started his outing strong with three scoreless innings. But he then pitched into some trouble in the middle innings as Pittsburgh began cutting into the Terps’ lead. The Panthers scored a pair of runs in both the fourth and fifth frames. Three of those runs scored off RBI singles, but Koester and the defense excelled at limiting the damage to stay ahead.
Koester lasted only five innings, giving up six hits, four runs — three earned — and two walks. His ERA jumped up from 2.25 to 5.40, but the immense run support allowed his record to improve to 2-0.
Joey McMannis was the first relief pitcher out of the bullpen and struck out two in his first inning of work, continuing his impressive start to his collegiate career. The freshman pitched two scoreless innings, struck out three while allowing one hit. Overall he has pitched six scoreless innings — a big boost for the Terps’ revamped bullpen.
Logan Berrier finished out the game brilliantly, including escaping a bases loaded, no-out jam he inherited from McMannis — Berrier struck out Ryan Zuckerman before getting a double play. The Longwood transfer pitched a clean ninth to improve Maryland to 2-0 in the Kleberg Bank College Classic, a much better showing in tournaments than the past two seasons.
“We have a lot of confidence in our bullpen and pitching staff in general so when we saw Logan come in we knew he was going to minimize and get the job done,” shortstop Kevin Keister said.
