By Ryan Colasanti and Henry Brown
After a day-long rain-delay Maryland baseball bested Purdue in the second and third game of their weekend series, winning 6-5, and 10-8, after inclement weather postponed the final two and a half innings from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning.
With the two wins, Maryland clinched its 19th-straight Big Ten series victory, dating back to 2021.
The Terps came into the second game of the series after losing the opener, 10-8. Maryland’s bats struggled through the first third of the game, breaking out in the seventh, scoring five runs. Jason Savacool was hit hard in his outing, allowing six earned runs, his highest total of the season.
Lefty Kyle McCoy was thrust into action as Maryland’s starter on Saturday. McCoy, the usual Sunday starter, was moved up a day this weekend. He struggled in his initial conference play starts and gave up four or more earned runs, but turned in six innings of impressive control in taking the win.
McCoy breezed through the first inning retiring the Boilermakers in order getting all three outs on the ground. In the second inning those groundouts became base hits.
Purdue racked up three hits in the inning; the first two put runners on first and second with no outs. McCoy got the double play he desired in the next at-bat, putting him one out away from ending the inning unscathed.
A CJ Valdez liner put a run on the board for Purdue in the second, getting them out to an early lead. They increased their lead in the third to 2-0 after scoring a run on the back of two Maryland errors and an RBI groundout by Couper Cornblum.
After being blanked in the first two innings, the Maryland bats responded in the third. Matt Shaw and Ian Petrutz got the Terps’ two run rally started reaching base on a walk and single. Eddie Hacopian continued his hot hitting, scorching a ball through the right side scoring Shaw from third. Matt Woods made his return to the lineup, sending a ball to the left center gap. Woods’ double scored Petrutz, tying the game, 2-2.
Purdue matched the Maryland run total in the top of the fourth. Matt Shaw’s second error of the game allowed Jake Parr to reach safely. Paul Toetz smacked a double to the wall in right center in the next at-bat putting both runners in scoring position. Jo Stevens and Valdez brought both of them home, giving Purdue a two run advantage.
The Terps’ four run fourth not only gave the team the lead, but also played host to history. Shaw’s solo homer was number 43 for his Maryland career. That big fly put him in a tie atop Maryland’s career home run list with former Terp, Paul Schager.
The celebration for that incredible feat would have to wait as Purdue cut the Terps’ newfound lead in half in the top of the fifth. A fly ball hit to Elijah Lambros in center hit his glove and popped out, with a runner on second. Maryland’s fourth error of the game allowed the runner to score and the Boilermakers to pull closer, making the score, 6-5.
The score stayed that way through the sixth. The seventh inning marked the end of McCoy’s first Saturday start as the Terps brought on Kenny Lippman from the ‘pen. The scoreboard and the scorecard tell two different stories on McCoy’s start. He pitched well, allowing five runs to the plate, but only two were earned. The starter allowed seven hits while striking out five in his six innings of work.
Reliever Kenny Lippman pitched a scoreless top seven before everything came to a halt. The inclement weather that was promised all day finally arrived at the “Bob”. The stadium was cleared and play was halted for a weather delay, which later turned into a postponement as the officials decided the rest of the game would be played on Sunday starting at 10am.
When baseball resumed the following morning, Maryland’s pitching, specifically Nigel Belgrave, held on to win 6-5. Two well-placed outfield bloopers granted multiple Purdue runners in scoring position in the ninth, but Belgrave struck out his final two batters to push Purdue to a pivotal Game 3.
Maryland baseball took the third and final game of its three-game series against Purdue on Sunday, winning the decisive third outing 10-8 to improve to 4-0 in Big Ten series. The Terps lost the Friday opener, but turned on the gas to take Saturday in a 6-5 nailbiter before prevailing in the final matchup to stun the Boilermakers.
Luke Shliger captained a multidimensional Maryland offense by going 4/4 at the plate, driving in two runs while rocketing Maryland’s third home run of the day. The Terps finished with 14 hits, as seven batters finished with at least one base hit and three different players drilled a home run.
“The bottom of our lineup carried us today, besides [Shliger] being elite,” Maryland coach Rob Vaughn said. “That’s what we want to see, especially with those young bats. That’s huge for us as a program, especially as we move into the future because those are the guys you’re gonna have to build around next year.”
Usual reliever Kenny Lippman took the bump for the home team, and pitched the deepest he has all season for a solid five-inning outing. The Maryland relievers again made a pivotal game closer than needed, as they allowed seven Purdue runs to score in the final four innings, forcing the latter half of the game into a race to the finish between the Terps’ offense and whatever the Terps’ bullpen gave up.
“[Lippman] was the story of the game,” Vaughn said. “We sent him out, I was like, okay, maybe he can let us get through the lineup once and then we can turn it over to the next guy, and he just kept rolling and telling us he felt great. What an outstanding job.”
Maryland improves to 25-15 and 8-4 in Big Ten play, while Purdue slips to 19-20 and 8-7 in conference play. The Terps have yet to lose a series to a conference opponent.
Lippman, who’s appeared in 15 games in a relief role, started his second game of the season for the series finale.
The Terps struck first for the first time all weekend in the bottom of the first. Luke Shliger smacked a leadoff double, and Nick Lorusso did the rest with an RBI single to put Maryland on the board. Lorusso, though, exited the game after making it to first base, looking hobbled as he walked off on his own. He was replaced by Jacob Orr for the remainder of the afternoon.
“[He] did an MRI, everything looks clean there, just some forearm stiffness,” Vaughn said. “He said its happened a couple times throughout his career, but hopefully something that doesn’t sideline him for too long.”
The Boilermakers got a run of their own in the second, but the Terps didn’t take long to respond. Purdue starter Kyle Iwinski loaded the bases and then walked Shliger for an easy Maryland run. The very next inning, two more Maryland runners worked into scoring position, and Matt Woods and Bobby Zmarzlak both laid down model bunts to double the score from two to four in the third frame.
Lippman, meanwhile, quietly put together a high-quality start. He retired the first four batters he saw, but then relented three-consecutive hits in a rocky second inning before rediscovering his command. He dealt three-straight hitless innings to take a 4-1 lead into the sixth, collecting five strikeouts over his five innings of action.
Ian Petrutz extended the lead to 5-1 in the bottom of the sixth with a home run that barely eked by the foul pole. This made him the third Terp to meet the double-digit home run mark this season, joining Lorusso and Matt Shaw at 15 and 14 on the podium.
“That’s kind of our identity as an offense, you lengthen and shorten the field,” Vaughn said. “You lengthen and field by hitting doubles and homers, and you shorten the field by making those guys have to stand on the grass. Really good offenses can score multiple ways.”
It didn’t take long for Maryland’s relief core to give up the lofty lead Lippman had so carefully cultivated, as the Boilermakers scored three runs with five baserunners in the sixth inning alone to cut the score to an uncomfortable 5-4.
Maryland came right back with some insurance runs in the Terps’ next turn at the plate, with Shaw driving in Shliger with an RBI single and Eddie Hacopian taking Shaw around the bases himself with a two-run dinger. When Purdue again reared its head and added two more runs to their score, this time against David Falco Jr., Elijah Lambros and Shliger came right back by hammering no-doubt long shots to make the score 10-6.
Falco again allowed two more Purdue runs to score in the eighth, but the Terps held on to win 10-8, appropriately capping off the tight series with a down-to-the-wire win.
“That is a tough, tough dude,” Vaughn said. “The moment ain’t gonna be big for him. If we’re gonna go down, we’re gonna go with our wily vet.”
The Terps will embark back on the road for a fresh slate of midweek matchups and will take on UMBC on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
