Logan Koester walked off the field after throwing his 98th pitch of the afternoon, one that resulted in his 21st out of the game, to claps of appreciation from the Maryland crowd. Koester finished a day in which he struck out four Bryant batters, with a one-two-three inning.
“I kind of had a feeling that it was going to be my last so, [I] emptied the tank, throw up another zero,” said Koester.
Koester’s first home start helped Maryland secure its first home weekend series win, beating the Bryant Bulldogs, 7-0, Saturday afternoon.
Koester allowed only three hits in his seven innings of work, consistently navigating trouble on the base paths. Koester stranded seven Bulldogs on base throughout the day continuing his strong start to the season in which he came into the outing with a four ERA in nine innings.
“Can’t say enough about him just attacking and being ahead of hitters and working himself out of stuff,” said head coach Matt Swope. “It was just an elite start.”
The righty’s opposition was Bryant right hander Luke Delongchamp. Delongchamp came in having pitched just once this season going three and two third innings against George Washington in which he gave up five hits and one earned run.
Delongchamp lasted only two and a third in this game as the Maryland offense carried its strong start from Friday into Saturday. Maryland scored a run in five of its eight innings, putting up three in the bottom of the second.
That second inning started with Sam Hojnar beating out a ground ball hit to the Bryant shortstop. Kevin Keister and Chris Hacopian followed the hustle single with a hit by pitch and single to shallow center field loading the bases for Alex Calarco. Calarco rocketed a single that squeaked under the outstretched glove of the Bryant second baseman, scoring two.
Elijah Lambros singled through the left side of the infield scoring the third run of the inning, completing Maryland’s scoring in the frame.
Koester relinquished the pitching duties to Nate Haberthier to start the eighth and the senior pitcher did his job, preserving the shutout. The performance was a big one for Haberthier who failed to record an out during the disastrous seventh inning in the VCU game.
“Super important,” said Swope. “He was prepared. He came out, didn’t see any ill effects of that other night, was super confident and got it done.”
Maryland’s offense finished with 10 hits punishing Bryant pitching for the second game in a row. The Maryland offense that accomplished the task did look a little different though.
Swope decided to switch things up within the lineup starting Freshman Jordan Crosland in place of Jacob Orr in the lineup, putting Crosland in the designated hitter position batting ninth. The move meant that regular DH, Alex Calarco, moved to first base and Eddie Hacopian moved to left field. Position movement wasn’t the only change.
Chris Hacopian slotted down two spots in the order batting in the five hole and right fielder Brayden Martin took over the second slot, moving Hojnar to the third position. Calarco moved behind Chris Hacopian, moving one spot down from his usual fifth spot in the lineup.
“What’s a little different from the past couple years, two or three years, is you’re not gonna just see the same lineup every single day,” said Swope. “We got too many young guys, we got 25 new players, we’re gonna have different lineups, we’re gonna have people in and out, different people are gonna get their opportunities and I just told them, you know when guys are getting opportunities they got to take advantage of them.”
Maryland will look to sweep its first series of the year when the two teams meet for a third time Sunday afternoon.
