No. 20 Maryland baseball defeats Penn State, 7-4, claims sole possession of Big Ten regular season title

Maryland baseball looked to register the go-ahead run against Penn State, tied at four in the eighth inning in what had been a back-and-forth affair so far. 

The Terps needed just to win over Penn State on Saturday to secure the outright Big Ten title. 

Jacob Orr sent a triple deep into left field with two outs, and Kevin Keister followed with an RBI single up the middle to bring home Orr as the go-ahead run.

The surge wasn’t over for the Terps, however, as Luke Shliger and Matt Shaw reached base the next two at bats and loaded the bases for Nick Lorusso.

Lorusso delivered like he has all season long, roping a single up the middle to send home Keister and Shliger and put the Terps up three. 

No. 20 Maryland baseball (37-19, 17-7 B1G) used its late offensive surge to down Penn State (25-25, 7-16), 7-4, clinching its second-straight outright Big Ten championship. 

“Really proud of these guys,” coach Rob Vaughn said. “I feel like this group deserved to sit at the top alone and I am really proud and excited for them.”

The feat is the sixth overall conference championship in program history and the second under Vaughn. The Terps are also the first to repeat as Big Ten regular season champions since Indiana in 2013-2014. 

The 2023 campaign has also been a season for the record books for Maryland, with multiple Terps shattering individual program records.

Shaw broke the program’s career home run record on April 26, passing Paul Schager’s previous record with his 44th career home run. 

Shaw and Lorusso have since gone back-and-forth in setting the program’s all-time RBI record. Lorusso currently leads Shaw by three with 166 career RBIs in two seasons as a Terp. Lorusso’s two-RBI single in the eighth broke the Big Ten single-season RBI record of 96. 

“To hang that many RBIs in a year just speaks to your consistency,” Vaughn said. “And I think that’s what’s been huge for us … that guy’s been as consistent as it gets.”

Maryland’s first score of the day against Penn State was also a record-breaking one. 

Shliger put the Terps on the board in the third inning, reaching home after a sac fly by sophomore designated hitter Ian Petrutz. The run was the 182nd of Shliger’s career, breaking the program record of 181 set by associate head coach Matt Swope. Shliger scored another run later in the eighth.

Shliger broke his own single-season record set last year with 87 runs this season, the most ever for a Terp. 

Fifth-year right fielder Matt Woods then put the Terps in the fourth frame, smashing a leadoff home run into right field. It was his 11th blast of the season for Woods and the first of the series for Maryland. 

Sophomore center fielder Elijah Lambros blasted another home run for the Terps in the sixth inning into right field, his 14th of the year. 

But the outing wasn’t all pretty as the Terps struggled with defensive miscues early on. Keister dropped a potential force out in the first, placing graduate student third baseman Grant Norris on second with two outs. 

While the Nittany Lions didn’t capitalize in the opening inning, they did in the next after another Terp error. 

Jay Harry attempted to steal second base, and after a throwing error by Shliger, the junior shortstop advanced to third. Harry reached home two at bats later following a triple by junior designated hitter CJ Pittaro, putting the Nittany Lions on the scoreboard first. 

The defensive errors continued into the fourth frame.

Pittaro first sent Harry home with an RBI single off sophomore right-hander Ryan Van Buren’s leg. Then a disastrous defensive play put Penn State back ahead, as Lorusso failed to field a ground ball from senior center fielder Johnny Piacentino, with the ball bouncing out of his glove and into left field. Orr couldn’t correct the play, making a throwing error as the ball didn’t make it to third base and two Nittany Lions scored. 

“It wasn’t a clean game,” Vaughn said. “We weren’t very good defensively there early.”

But the Terps’ defense tightened after the fourth inning, posting no more errors and holding the Nittany Lions to nine hits. 

Penn State failed to register another run, as the Terps recorded the go-ahead runs in the eighth. David Falco Jr. pitched two scoreless innings to secure the win in the final frames, and the Terps celebrated on the field with their new trophy.

The Terps will now shift their focus to the Big Ten Tournament, with their first game as the No. 1-seed scheduled for Tuesday.