Maryland baseball’s offense shines in 19-8 win over Mount St. Mary’s

Photo courtesy of Kevin Snyder/Maryland Athletics.

Maryland baseball’s offense put up 16 runs in a big win against Iowa in its last outing. That was one-upped on Tuesday — the Terps scored 17 runs to win their second straight game by the run rule.

Maryland (20-21, 5-13 B1G) dominated Mount St. Mary’s (17-20, 10-11), 19-8, behind an early offensive explosion.

Nate Berzonski got the midweek start for the Mount – the freshman arm had a tough task against the Big Ten’s second highest scoring team. 

Sophomore Jordan Crosland started the scoring early with a first pitch home run. The left fielder had eight homers coming into the game – his ninth, sent over the center field wall, is good for the Terps’ second best mark. Freshman Ryan Costello leads the team with 13 despite dealing with injuries.

Costello was in the lineup for the second straight game after an extended absence. The designated hitter went 2-4 with two runs and an RBI in his return on April 19 and continued to exhibit no signs of rust. 

He added to Maryland’s lead in the fifth inning, hitting a grand slam that sent The Terps into double digits. Costello ended the game with two hits, three walks and five RBIs.

Maryland’s young core was fully on display early. With the bases loaded and two outs in the first inning, freshman Bud Coombs sent a ball bouncing against the left-center wall to clear the bases. Coombs also made his presence felt on defense with a home run robbery in the bottom of the frame.

The two sport athlete had an impressive game, ending with two hits and four RBIs.

Freshman Franklin Pichardo Jr. made the most of his first at bat in his first career start, launching a towering home run to score three more runs and capping off a disastrous start for Berzonski.

Michael Arndt took over in the first inning and was able to escape the inning, but not before the Terps piled on seven runs. 

Maryland added two more runs in the third inning to build its lead to 9-1 – Pichardo crossed home plate again for his second run of the game. 

The seventh inning was another big one for the Terps, as three runners scored behind some small ball from Maryland to build the lead to nine runs.

A missed catch from the Mount allowed junior Brayden Martin to score another two out run for the Terps, this time in the eighth. Paul Jones II added another run with a solo homer in the top of the ninth – his fifth of the season. An RBI double from Crosland later in the inning put Maryland in run rule territory.

Nic Morlang started on the mound for the Terps. In the right-hander’s ninth start in his freshman year, he threw a solid four innings, giving up two unearned runs and four hits. Ryan Bailey took over in the fifth after Morlang loaded the bases with no outs.

The Mount capitalized with a single through the first base gap, scoring two runs and cutting into Maryland’s lead.

Two sacrifice flies and an RBI single later in the inning gave Mount St. Mary’s some breathing room to avoid the run rule. The Mount avoided the game ending early in the eighth with another RBI single, but that would be the last time they scored.

The Terps will look to carry their momentum into a crucial Big Ten series this weekend against Michigan State – the first game is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m.