The Dirty Terps used a six-run seventh inning to beat George Washington, 15-8, in their first midweek game of the week. With the win, Maryland sweeps the season series against the Colonials, winning both games.
The Terps came into this matchup after winning two of three in Columbus, Ohio. Matt Shaw had a really strong series against the Buckeyes, going 5-10 and racking up three RBIs. George Washington came into the matchup winners of two straight. The Colonials won their series against Fordham by winning the Saturday and Sunday games, outsourcing their opponent 18-6 in those two games.
The pitching matchup in this game featured Nate Haberthier for Maryland and Colton Trisch for George Washington. Haberthier got his third midweek start of this season. In his prior two midweek starts, (both against Georgetown) Haberthier pitched a combined four and two thirds innings, allowing five earned runs. Colton Trisch got his first start of his collegiate career after making two prior appearances, both in relief.
Trisch pitched a strong first inning and the George Washington bats rewarded him by getting on the board first. Steve DiTomaso got the first hit of the game, a single past the sliding Shaw at short. A ground out moved DiTomaso to second and after a walk to Anthony Frechette. Noah Levin drove in DiTomaso from second, giving the Colonials the lead at the end of one.
Maryland wiped away the lead in the top of the second, due to their impressive plate discipline. Eddie Hacopian worked the first of four Maryland walks in the inning, standing on first to start. Hacopian stole second then moved to third on a fly out by Zach Martin. Bobby Zmarzlak scored Hacopian with a sacrifice fly, tying the game.
The inning didn’t end there, as the next three Terps in the lineup all reached on walks, loading the bases with two outs. George Washington decided to bring in Colin Ruddy to face Nick Lorusso, ending Trisch’s first collegiate start. Lorusso smoked a single to third, sending the Terps into the bottom of the second with a 2-1 lead.
George Washington notched a run in each of the next two innings, retaking the lead in the bottom of the third, 3-2. The runs came via RBI singles from Bryan Belo and Robby Wacker, Wacker’s being the go-ahead run.
The score stayed that way until the top of the fourth. Matt Shaw continued his rise atop of Maryland’s all-time home run leaderboard, blasting his 42 career home run over the fence in left center, giving Maryland a 5-3 lead.
Haberthier ‘s third midweek start ended in the bottom half of the inning as two doubles from the Colonial lineup cut the Maryland lead in half. Haberthier was replaced by Logan Ott, who got the final two outs of the fourth. Haberthier ended the game giving up four earned runs in three and a third innings.
The bullpen shut down the Colonial lineup giving up just one hit from the fifth inning until the eighth. Lippman, Logan Ott, and Matt Orlando gave up no runs during that span, striking out two and walking none.
The Maryland lineup put the game out of reach in that time. The Terps scored 10 of their 15 runs after the fourth inning. Eddie Hacopian and Bobby Zmarzlak registered the big hits with Hacopian hitting a three-run homer in the sixth and Zmarzlak blasting a grand slam in the seventh. Shliger and Shaw added to the run total with RBI singles, giving Maryland a 15-4 lead at the end of seven.
Bryan Belo and Eddie Micheletti added four to the George Washington run total in the bottom of the ninth, but that proved to be inconsequential.
Maryland’s lineup had a strong game at the plate. Not only did the Terps score 15 runs on 10 hits, but the Terps worked 14 walks in the game. The Terps had the long ball working homering three times, which accounted for 10 of their runs.
The Terps will try to carry over their hot swinging into their Wednesday matchup against James Madison.
