No. 20 Maryland baseball uses late rally to down Penn State in 17-15 offensive explosion

No. 20 Maryland baseball entered Thursday evening needing a win to stay atop the Big Ten standings, tied with Indiana for first place. 

For eight innings, it looked the Terps would falter, trailing for all but a half inning.

But their offense had other plans in the top of the ninth. Trailing three, Maryland loaded the bases with one out.

Kevin Keister put the Terps on the board first on a sac fly into right field, before Luke Shliger followed with an RBI double down the left field line to bring the Terps within one.

After an intentional walk of Matt Shaw loaded the bases, Nick Lorusso delivered a go-ahead, two-RBI single down the left field line, giving the Terps their first lead since the second inning. 

Ian Petrutz tacked on another run with an RBI single to left center, giving the Terps a two-run lead heading into the bottom half of the ninth.

David Falco Jr. shut down Penn State (24-24, 6-15 B1G) after a one-out double, clinching a 17-15 comeback victory for the Terps (36-18, 16-6 B1G) in the opening game of the series.

Maryland’s bats started hot, batting over .400 through the first six innings. The Terps scored six runs over that span after a pair of three-run frames in the second and fourth, respectively.

Coach Rob Vaughn’s group jumped ahead to a three-run lead in the second inning thanks to an Elijah Lambros two-RBI single and a throwing error to bring home Lambros two at bats later.

Fifth-year right fielder Matt Woods then crossed home on a Lambros single and a Penn State throwing error in the fourth frame, and an RBI single off the bat of sophomore left fielder Jacob Orr and a Shaw sac fly cut Maryland’s deficit to one.

But the Terps struggled to efficiently bring runners home, leaving seven men on base — most notable in the fifth and six frames. Petrutz reached third with no outs in the fifth but a double play and a fly out stranded him 90 feet away from home plate, while sophomore first baseman Eddie Hacopian stranded the bases loaded with two outs in the sixth after a fly out to left field.

The Terps trailed 13-6 entering the seventh inning as a result of their inability to take advantage of scoring changes, but then cashed in over the final three innings.

It started in the seventh, when Maryland brought home six runs in its largest frame of the outing. Five batters combined for the scoring, with Keister leading the charge with a two-RBI double into right center. Lorusso and Hacopian then both added RBI singles while Petrutz tacked on an RBI sac fly. 

But a scoreless eighth frame kept the Terps trailing with just three outs left before suffering a loss to the Nittany Lions. That’s when Maryland struck for five, taking a lead it held onto in the bottom-half of the ninth inning en route to the win.

While Maryland’s bats found fire late, Penn State’s bats got off to a blazing start.

Penn State posted a seven-run inning in the second, spurred by poor defensive play by the Terps — two different Nittany Lions scored off of throwing errors. 

The scoring began following a Keister throwing error, allowing freshman designated hitter Bobby Marsh to advance home from third. Marsh wasn’t the only runner to cross home on a Terp defensive miscue, as another throwing error — this time from Shaw — allowed junior right fielder Billy Gerlott to advance home later in the frame. And graduate student catcher Thomas Bramley reached home after being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Maryland continued to suffer self-inflicted wounds, as Penn State added four more unearned runs before the Terps could get out of the jam.

Penn State added onto its lead with a combined six runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Five different Nittany Lions recorded a hit in the frames, including a two-RBI triple by graduate student third baseman Grant Norris. 

But when they trailed in the bottom of the ninth, the Nittany Lions couldn’t muster a pair of runs, falling to the Terps on Thursday.

Game two of the series is set for 5 p.m. on Friday.