By Tyler Lochte

The top of the fourth could not have gone much worse for No. 19 Maryland. A combination of bad
bounces, an error, and a questionable fielding decision set the table for four unearned Minnesota runs.
Then, the Terps scored 13 of the game’s last 17 runs to equal Indiana’s dominant win today and control
their own destiny in the Big Ten.

A two-run shot by Maryland’s Matt Woods and an RBI groundout by Minnesota’s Boston Merila was
the only sparks of offense in the game’s first four frames, but the game was quickly turned on its head.

Maryland had a quick response to Minnesota’s four 5th-inning runs, with four of their own in the bottom
half of the inning. In the postgame press conference, Maryland coach Rob Vaughn revealed that
shortstop Matt Shaw told the team “I’m not going to let us lose this game.”

Shaw would immediately deliver, crushing a no-doubt blast to center field to even the score 5-5. Later in
the inning Eddie Hacopian singled Nick Lorusso home to give Maryland back the lead.

Ike Mezzenga would give the Golden Gophers the lead again with a monster two-run bomb, but the
Terps again wasted no time with their response. A monster 6 th inning would see the hosts plate 7 runs
on 5 hits, giving them a commanding lead they would not relinquish.

Nick Lorusso was a part of the rally on the 6th. “That’s what we can do when we can just string at-bats
one after another. That was shown in the 6th inning, and I think in the 5th inning too.”

Maryland extends their undefeated streak to 23 consecutive Big Ten series, last dropping one in 2021.
They won the regular season title last season before a disappointing performance in both the
conference and NCAA tournaments.

The win was extra special for the seniors on the team. Bobby Zmarzlak grabbed a pinch-hit single, later
scoring a run. Nick Lorusso added 2 more RBI on the year, extending his single-season program record to 90.

Matt Woods reached on 4 of 5 plate appearances, including a homer. Dave Falco shut the door with three strong innings out of the bullpen to end the game.

“I said the thing last year about Damon building a statue for Bubba out front of the stadium. I think we’re going to have to tear that one down and build one for Nicky Lo,” Vaughn said.

Maryland and Indiana currently top the Big Ten with 15-6 records. The Terps swept the Hoosiers in
Bloomington this year, so a sweep of Penn State would give Maryland the title. R“We don’t need to scoreboard watch.

We don’t need anyone to help us, we just need to go and do our job,” Vaughn said.