Maryland baseball uses late rally to down No. 25 Iowa, 7-4

Maryland baseball’s bats were nowhere to be found for most of Saturday.

But they came alive when it mattered. 

After falling behind by one in the seventh, Eddie Hacopian led off the top of the eighth with a single. Elijah Lambros drove one deep into the right-center gap after a fly out. Luke Shliger was hit by a pitch in the next at bat to load the bases.

Nick Lorusso drew a walk to tie the game at four. And for a second-straight game, Matt Shaw gave Maryland the deciding lead — this time with a two-run single.

“​​This group can really take a punch and I think that’s something that you want to be known for,” coach Rob Vaughn said. “The best teams I’ve ever coached, they’re not afraid to come from behind. They don’t panic.”

The Terps (17-9, 2-0 Big Ten) used that three-run eighth inning to key their victory over No. 25 Iowa (19-6, 0-2 Big Ten) in Iowa City, 7-4. The win clinched their first Big Ten series victory of the season.

The usual suspects came up big for Maryland, as Shliger, Lorusso and Shaw combined to hit 6-for-13 with six RBI’s.

The Terps built on their Friday fireworks out the gate, as Shliger led off the game with a home run over the right field wall.

A dribbler from senior designated hitter Bobby Zmarzlak with the bases loaded found no-man’s-land down the third base line, bringing a run home to make it 2-0 Maryland early.

Senior right-hander Nick Dean was able to force bad contact early, supporting some control issues that forced him to throw 23 pitches in the first inning. Regardless, the frame took him only four batters.

He figured it out as the game went on, though. His next three innings cost him just 41 combined pitches, and Iowa had yet to record a hit entering the fifth inning.

“[Dean] came out of the gates maybe a tick slower than he would have wanted [this season], and that’s bad news for the rest of the league,” Vaughn said.

A double by Lorusso in the bottom of the second set up runners on second and third for Shaw, who hit a deep fly ball for a sac-fly to make it 3-0.

Dean finished his day by getting out of a first-and-second jam in the fifth. Meanwhile, the Maryland bats fell silent after a strong first two innings. They got just three hits between the third and seventh innings, and couldn’t turn any of those baserunners into runs.

“We had eight opportunities with two outs for RBIs, we were 0-for-8,” Vaughn said. “Eight of the nine innings ended with a runner scoring position…when you’re trying to win against a good team on the road you generally have to cash in there.”

The next inning, junior right-hander Nate Haberthier relieved him, and immediately got into trouble. The Hawkeyes led off with a single, which redshirt sophomore two-way player Keaton Anthony followed up with a long hit that scored the runner — it was ruled a single, but Anthony ended up on second base.

After a walk and hit-by-pitch loaded the bases, a 107 mile-per-hour line drive hit Haberthier in the leg. He made the play at home, but was in serious pain and had to be removed from the game. Fifth year right-hander Kenny Lippman came in and got out of the inning, keeping the game at a 3-1 score.

Redshirt junior right-hander David Falco Jr. came in with two on and two out after Lippman walked three batters in the seventh. Graduate student first baseman Brennen Dorighi hit a ball well over the right field fence on the third pitch Falco threw to give the Hawkeyes a 4-3 lead. 

The Terps faced one more scare after their top of the eighth outburst. In the bottom of the inning, junior southpaw Tommy Kane allowed two singles. After a stolen base, he faced second and third with two outs.

Kane loaded the count to junior shortstop Michael Seegers, the next batter. But Seegers’ barrel barely missed the payoff pitch, and he flew out harmlessly to right field to end the inning.

“[Kane] was just gutty there at the end,” Vaughn said.

The back of Iowa’s bullpen lost its control late. In the top of the ninth, redshirt junior right-hander Luke Llewellyn walked two batters and was pulled for junior left-hander Nick Gottilla.

Gottilla threw one pitch — it hit Shliger. He was replaced by sophomore right-hander Chas Wheatley. Wheatley faced Lorusso, who drilled a ball to short that wasn’t fielded cleanly, and the Terps cashed in on a well-needed insurance run as a result.

Kane closed out the ninth, and the Terps left the field victorious for a fifth-straight game.

Maryland will go for the series sweep on Sunday at 1 p.m.

“It ain’t easy to sweep anybody, particularly a top 25 team and a team that I still think it’s one of, if not the best team in our league right now,” Vaughn said. “They’re gonna come out hungry tomorrow.”