Maryland finishes regular season with crucial tilt vs. Penn State

Photo courtesy of Chris Lyons/Maryland Athletics

After playing seven of its last eight games on the road, Maryland baseball heads back to College Park for a crucial series against Penn State.

The Terps (34-19, 10-11 Big Ten) have been road warriors all season, winning a nation-best 19 road games. But the club will play its final and most important series at home, where they’ve been equally dominant, losing just four games all season.

“I feel like over the past couple of years, we’ve always played well [at home],” Kevin Keister said. “So it’s it’s nice to play here for the last series.”

The Terps are locked in a three-way tie with Michigan State and Ohio State for seventh place in the Big Ten standings, making their upcoming series a must-win to make the conference tournament.

If Maryland sweeps its series against Penn State (23-22, 9-12 Big Ten), it will guarantee the seventh seed in the Big Ten playoffs.

However, if the Terps win two out of three games, they’ll need Michigan State, Ohio State and Minnesota to all lose at least one game.

However, if Maryland, Michigan State, and Ohio State all win two out of three games and Minnesota sweeps Northwestern, Maryland will be the eighth seed.

Only the top eight teams in the conference will travel to Omaha to participate in the playoffs, so a series loss can potentially end Maryland’s season if Ohio State, Michigan State and Minnesota both win its series.

“We’ve scratched and clawed for the last month and put ourselves in position in a good position to kind of control our own fate,” coach Matt Swope said. “I think the guys kind of know what’s at stake and [are] excited to play tomorrow.”

On Saturday, the Terps will have their senior day. They’ll honor ten seniors, including their captain, Keister. 

“I’ve had some great memories and times here so this place means a lot to me,” Kesiter said on his time at Maryland. “Hosting the regional here was probably the coolest. I wish we would have pulled it off.”

Penn State enters the contest tied for tenth in the Big Ten standings with an outside chance of making the playoffs. It’s not impossible to make the tournament, but they would need to sweep their series against Maryland and need Minnesota, Michigan State and Ohio State to all lose their final series.

The Nittany Lions sport the Big Ten’s lowest ERA at 7.00. The Terps will likely see Travis Luensmann on Thursday, as he has routinely been the Nittany Lions’ Friday starter. The junior sports a team-low 4.78 ERA among pitchers with multiple appearances and has pitched in at least four innings in all but two of his starts this season.

The Terps saw Luensmann last year, and he lasted just 0.2 innings. The Maryland offense scored three runs on four hits en route to a 17-15 win.

Penn State also features five starters with a batting average over .300, and spearheading the offense is J.T Marr.

Marr leads the Nittany Lions in nearly every hitting category, including batting average, OPS, on-base percentage and hits. He has multiple hits in three of his last four games, and Maryland’s pitching staff will look to minimize his damage.

The Terps will start Omar Melendez on Thursday and Logan Koester on Friday, but Swope said that Saturday will be TBD as Joey McMannis is out with an illness.

McMannis was also out with an illness last weekend against Boston College, and the Terps elected to start Evan Smith. The Terps may look towards Smith again in the final game of the season, as he pitched a season-high six innings.

The series starts on Thursday at 4 p.m., and the Terps will conclude their regular season on Friday and Saturday.