Maryland baseball got its first win of the 2023 season, beating USF 8-1 behind a dominant pitching performance from senior Nick Dean. 

Coming off a loss in their first game of the season, the Terps needed a win to give them a chance to win their opening series, by forcing a rubber match on Sunday. 

Dean did more than give Maryland a chance to win. Dean pitched a gem working six innings of one-hit ball. Dean struck out eight batters, striking out the side in both the second and third innings. 

“He was simply unbelievable today. Threw the ball well, mixed pitches out of the strike zone, gave up one hit no runs. It’s about as good as it gets for the first start of the year for him,” said head coach Rob Vaughn. 

The only hit the righty gave up came in the second inning when Bobby Boser lined one to the outfield.

Maryland was the first to put runs on the board, unlike in Friday’s contest. The one thing that carried over from Friday, the bottom of the lineup scoring runs.

Jacob Orr and Bobby Zmarzlak reached base to start the third inning. After a bunt attempt went foul, Elijah Lambros struck a hit to left field, scoring Orr.

Luke Shliger grounded into a double play bringing Matt Shaw up with two outs and a runner on third. Shaw roped a double to left center, his first hit of the year, scoring Zmarzlak, giving Maryland a 2-0 lead. 

The Terps added another run in the fifth. Zmarzlak tripled after Orr recorded an out. Lambros hit a ball to third, where Travis Sankovich appeared to field the ball, tag Zmarzlak, and throw out Lambros at first.

After a review of the play the umpires found that both players were safe, putting runners at the corners. Zmarzlak scored on a wild pitch during the Luke Shliger at bat, putting the Terps ahead by three. The Terps found themselves in a similar situation in the sixth but couldn’t come away with a run. 

Nick Lorusso’s bat finally woke up in the seventh inning. Lorusso blasted his first hit of the year over the fence in left center, bringing home three Maryland baserunners, all of whom reached via walk. The grand slam broke an 0-8 slide for Lorusso to start the year. 

“It started with Lukey [Shliger] getting a really unselfish bunt down and moves them up and then you got to kind of pick your poison,” said Vaughn. “Obviously Matt Shaw’s well known and well respected around college baseball and is a superstar but we got one of the best RBI guys in the country behind him in Nicky Lo.”

Dean’s day was done heading into the seventh. Vaughn decided to bring in the freshman Kyle McCoy for his first taste of collegiate baseball. 

McCoy pitched well in his three innings of work, earning his first collegiate save. He only gave up one run on three hits, fanning three opponents. 

“You saw it in the second and third inning, him just kind of take a breath. He got the first inning behind him, got his feet wet and was great the last two innings,” said Vaughn. 

The Terps added another insurance run in the ninth via a Hacopian ground out, bringing their run total to eight. 

This game showed why Maryland entered the season ranked thirteenth in the country. 

The pitching was dominant, striking out eleven and only giving up a combined four hits and three walks. Dean looked healthy and back to his 2021 form, where he had an era of 2.87. 

The offense started to get things going as well with Lorusso and Shaw getting their first hits of the season. Ian Petrutz and Eddie Hacopian had two hits in the game, providing production from the middle of the lineup. Lambros notched his second RBI of the season, anchoring the bottom third of the lineup. 

“What he’s [Lambros] doing is what I’ve watched him do for seven months now. It’s just putting together professional at-bats,” said Vaughn. 

Maryland will call on Nate Haberthier to toe the slab in the rubber match of the series on Sunday.