Jacob Orr stepped into the batter’s box facing a new Portland arm, Tanner Douglas, in the top of the ninth. Maryland had runners on first and second, tied 8-8, and two outs. Douglas threw his 2-2 offering and Orr’s bat met it head on.

Orr’s hit ricocheted off the wall in left field, scoring Sam Hojnar from second. Orr’s fourth RBI of the game delivered Maryland its first win of the weekend. 

The Maryland Terrapins defeated the Portland Pilots, 9-8, Saturday evening. The win ties the weekend series at one game a piece. 

Orr finished the game three for five with two doubles and a walk. This was Orr’s first start of the weekend after coming in as a defensive replacement in Friday’s game. The junior’s heroics were a surprising necessity for the Terps who had been leading for most of the game.

Maryland entered the eighth inning with a five-run lead and turned the ball over to Nate Haberthier in relief of Logan Koester. Haberthier faced a Portland lineup full of bench players as the Pilots subbed in their reserves, replacing all but one of their nine position starters. The process started in sixth and the results emerged in the eighth.

Haberthier gave up five hits in his one inning of work allowing five runs to cross the plate and the Pilots to tie the game, 8-8. The Pilots had two extra base hits in the inning after hitting two throughout the previous seven innings. Gage Bruce, Jace Miller, and Evan Scavotto each brought home a run with a single and Tristan Gomes (Portland’s remaining starter) doubled in two RBI for the Pilots. 

Haberthier was replaced by Logan Berrier in the bottom of the ninth and he closed the game, striking out the side and earning his first save of the season. 

Haberthier’s rough eighth inning appearance erased a winning effort from the Terps’ starter, Logan Koester.  

Koester pitched seven innings allowing three earned runs from the Pilots offense. Koester gave up five hits in the game, the first coming in the third inning, and struck out three Pilots batters. The George Washinton transfer didn’t allow a walk in the game. 

The three runs Portland scored against Koester were scattered between the third inning and the seventh. The first run from the Pilots’ offense came from a Brady Bean sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third and the other two came on back to back RBI groundouts. All of those runs were scored as the Pilots tried to regain the ground they lost in the first inning. 

The Terps started the game scoring more runs in the top of the first then they had all of Friday’s game. 

The inning started with Chris Hacopian reaching first safely on a dropped third strike, a Brayden Martin walk, and then Eddie Hacopian reached base for the first time in the game on a fielding error by third baseman Jack Thomson. That error scored Maryland’s first run.

Three more runs scored in the inning on only one hit. Orr was the Terp with the hit, a double to the left center gap that scored two. Kevin Keister scored the final run of the inning on a passed ball.

Maryland’s scoring didn’t stop there. The Terps scored two more in the top of the fourth on another Portland error during Eddie Hacopian’s third at-bat and a bunt single by Hojnar.

Portland’s starter Sam Stuhr exited the game after giving up those two runs in the fourth in favor of Ryan Rembisz to start the top of the fifth. Stuhr finished the game with four walks and seven strikeouts. All six of Maryland’s runs scored while Stuhr was on the mound were unearned. 

The Terps added insurance runs in the sixth and eighth off Portland relievers, both proving to be important as the game entered the final two frames. 

In total, Maryland’s lineup accumulated 10 hits and five walks. Maryland struck out 10 times which was an improvement on the 16 strikeouts they had in Friday’s opener. 

The Terps will try to avoid losing their first weekend series of the season in Sunday’s rubber match against Portland.