Matt Shaw took the plate with Luke Shliger positioned at first. One run had already crossed the plate in the top of the third, but Shaw would make it more.
Shaw belted his fifteenth home run of the year over the fence in center, etching his name in the Maryland history books with one swing of the bat. The homer was his 44th of his career at Maryland passing Paul Schager as the new all-time home run leader in program history.
The Terps went on to hit four home runs in the third, powering their way to a second midweek win, beating Georgetown, 16-3, in seven innings.
The Terps came into this game after setting a program record in their, 24-11, win against UMBC on Tuesday. Maryland scored 17 runs in the second inning of that game setting a new program record for runs in an inning. The Hoyas entered this game losing their weekend series against No. 15 UConn. Georgetown won the last game of the series avoiding a sweep.
Ryan Van Buren and Collin Garner took the mound for their respective clubs on Wednesday night. Van Buren appeared in 13 games for Maryland this season, starting two. Garner made his tenth appearance and sixth start of the season for Georgetown in this game.
The pitchers started the game well keeping either team off the scoreboard through the first two frames. Ryan Van Buren retired the first six Hoyas in order and after Garner pitched through some trouble in the first he did the same to Maryland in the second.
The third inning not only played host to history but gave the Terps a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Keister started the inning blasting his third homer of the week over the wall in left. Shaw’s homer was followed by a Matt Woods two-run bomb that cleared the fence in left. Lambros deposited the ball in the same place in the next at-bat scoring the last Maryland run of the inning, giving the Terps a 6-0 lead.
Lambros was ejected following his solo homer causing Luke Zeisloft to enter the game in the bottom of the third. Zeisloft played right field and Matt Woods moved to center.
Georgetown scored one run in each of the next three innings. The Hoyas scored their first run of the game on a balk by Van Buren with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the third. Their next two runs came via the long ball. Christian Ficca went deep in the fourth and Owen Carapellotti did the same in the fifth cutting the Maryland lead to, 6-3.
Carapellotti’s home run was hit off of Tommy Kane who replaced Van Buren to start the fifth inning. Van Buren had a solid outing for the Terps pitching his longest outing of the season. Van Buren’s fourteenth appearance of the year ended with him pitching four innings allowing two runs on five hits, striking out four.
The Terps squashed any hope of a Georgetown comeback striking for a nine run top of the sixth. The inning started with a Jacob Orr solo home run that was followed up a couple of at-bats later with a two run shot by Luke Shliger. Ian Petrutz, Eddie Hacopian, and Matt Woods all reached base safely later on in the inning, bringing up Luke Zeisloft with the bases loaded.
Zeisloft struck out swinging for the second out bringing Bobby Zmarzlak to the plate. Zmarzlak worked the count full and eventually worked a walk, driving in a run for the Terps. Jacob Orr did the same in his second at-bat of the inning and Kevin Keister cleared the bases after that, hitting his second home run of the game. Keister’s grand slam ended the scoring, giving the Terps a commanding, 15-3, lead.
Andrew Johnson came in to pitch relieving Kane to start the sixth. Johnson pitched a clean sixth inning and retired the Hoyas in order in the seventh to end the game.
Maryland secured a series win against the Hoyas this season beating them twice in three tries. The Terps offense was on fire accumulating 10 hits in the game, seven of them being long balls. The pitching staff pitched well allowing only three runs to cross the plate while striking out eight Georgetown hitters.
The Terps have a big conference series coming up on Friday as they will travel to Bloomington, Indiana to take on the Hoosiers in the weekend series.
