Maryland baseball sealed their first sweep of the season on Sunday, pounding Maine one final time in a 9-1 victory. The team moves to 8-7, the first time they’ve had a winning record since the first week of the season.
There was no shortage of run support, as the Terps built up eight hits and an astonishing 13 walks. Pitching, however, was this game’s story; while Maine’s pitching staff wilted one last time, evidenced in starter Noah Lewis walking in a runner with the bases loaded four different times in the third inning, the three pitchers Maryland employed in Kyle McCoy, Nate Haberthier and David Falco Jr. let up a combined three hits and earned 13 strikeouts.
“I liked the way we pitched the ball today, that was something that we really needed,” Maryland coach Rob Vaughn said. “We were ahead of everybody, I think we walked one guy today. When you run stuff out like those three guys have and play clean defense behind them, it’s gonna be really hard to generate runs.”
After an eventful 25-10 romp to open the series, Maryland took its second straight game from Maine on Saturday in a tight 5-4 contest. Entering the bottom of the eighth inning with the game still tied, Ian Petrutz, the only starter without a hit on Friday, smashed the go-ahead dinger on a full count to pull ahead 5-4, which is where the score would stay.
In something of a surprise due to his inexperience, McCoy got the nod for the Terps’ final outing of the weekend. Pitching in his first weekend start, the freshman had previously posted a 6.52 ERA over two starts and five appearances.
After McCoy cleanly navigated his way through the first inning on seven pitches, the top of Maryland’s order got busy crowding the bases. Though no score would arrive in the first frame, Nick Lorusso extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a missile through an infield gap. His 1.175 OPS entering Sunday was a team-high, carried mightily by his .763 slugging percentage.
McCoy looked even more dominant in the second, mowing through three more batters while adding a pair of strikeouts. The freshman looked cool and composed on the mound, and only relented his first hit in the third inning. Unfortunately for him, that hit happened to be a home run, and Colby Emmertz got Maine on the board first. This marked the first time all series where Maine scored before the home team.
The deficit wouldn’t hold for long, though. A walk party led by Elijah Lambros quickly loaded the bases for Maine pitcher Noah Lewis, and Petrutz drew a HBP when the ball struck his foot. This would kick off a long chain of walks with loaded basepaths, as Matt Woods repeated the act a minute later to bring in a second run. Eddie Hacopian got nailed in the back to keep the scores coming, and Bobby Zmarzlak drew a standard four-ball walk to make it a 4-1 ballgame despite not one Terp getting a hit in the frame.
Nate Haberthier took over for McCoy to start the fourth, as the freshman finished with three Ks and one earned run over a short but impressive stint. In his first relief appearance of the season, Haberthier, who’s pitched most Sunday starts, dealt a welcome 1-2-3 inning to keep momentum in the hands of the Terps.
The Terps continued to build in the fourth, placing runners on the corners to finally send Lewis back to the dugout, with a final pitching line of six walks and four earned runs. Yet another Petrutz walk added a third baserunner, and Kevin Keister delivered with a double to beef the lead up to 6-1.
“Nick and Shaw, they’re always on base. It’s always nice having people on base, bring up your RBI count…I like hitting [at the five spot],” Keister said.
Shaw’s baserunning was one of the underrated storylines of the game. He entered the outing 6-6 on stolen base attempts, and added three more on Sunday, including two stolen bags in the sixth inning alone. No other Terp has taken more than three total over the season.
“When you play with a lead, you can really force pressure,” Vaughn said. “Our goal is to get a runner on third with less than two outs. If we can do that, we’re gonna score a lot. “
Haberthier turned in a rock-solid performance, dealing three straight no-hit innings. He amassed five strikeouts during that span, putting down a minimum nine batters between the fourth and the sixth. He finished with a game-high eight strikeouts over four innings.
“I think you’ll see both of those guys in some form or fashion, whether it’s longer Kyle, shorter Nate…shorter Kyle, longer Nate, I think they pair up so well together,” Vaughn said. “Kyle’s got a tough slot, left handed, ball sinks, really good changeup, has a good feel for the breaking ball, throws a ton of strikes, and you flip it around to the other side. Nate’s got a little more [velocity], turns the ball over, really good changeup. It really allows you to shorten the game on Sunday and use the horses that you need on Friday and Saturday.”
His first stumble wasn’t until the seventh, when he lost his no-hit bid on his 11th batter on a Jeremiah Jenkins double. Another hit put runners on the corners, creating the first bind for a Maryland pitcher that afternoon. Demonstrating great poise, Haberthier dealt two straight strikeouts to put out the fire, and belted out a roar to the dugout in excitement.
Zmarzlak demonstrated his appreciation for the Maryland pitching with a deep drive over the right field wall, his first of the year, further pushing the lead to 7-1. Another flurry of walks placed three men on base, but Petrutz was unable to capitalize to further put the afternoon out of reach. This was an all-too-familiar result for the Terps, who managed to score without getting hits yet stranded 13 men on base over the course of the afternoon.
The very next inning, Woods, the only remaining starter without a home run after the Zmarzlak blast, officially joined the club with a no-doubter over the same portion of the outfield wall. Zmarzlak and Lambros then drilled two straight doubles, setting the final score of 9-1.
“The games we were losing, we really weren’t aggressive,” Keister said. “We had to change something up and it really helped us win these last three games.”
David Falco Jr. closed the game in style, shutting down the final pair of innings through six batters faced to seal the sweep.
Despite playing what Vaughn referred to as a “sloppy” game of baseball, the Terps managed to ride their near-spotless pitching to a fourth straight win. They’ll get their next chance to build on their record against Delaware on Tuesday, who they previously handled on Feb. 28 in an 8-3 win.
