MINNEAPOLIS – Behind a strong outing from freshman right-hander Ryan Selmer, the fourth-seeded Maryland baseball team advanced to the Big Ten Tournament final with a 4-2 win over sixth-seeded Indiana at Target Field Saturday afternoon.
Selmer combined with junior Robert Galligan and junior Kevin Mooney to provide Maryland with a complete pitching performance. The Terrapins (39-20) will be making their second straight conference tournament title game after its appearance in last year's ACC final.
“We feel very good after that,” head coach John Szefc. “Our guys really came to play. We got a really good start from Ryan. Mooney came in and does what he normally does. We've been successful here because of our pitching and defense and we took advantage of some of their mistakes.”
The game stayed scoreless until the seventh, but Selmer worked out of a couple of jams in his five and 2/3 innings for work. In the third, Austin Cangelosi led off with a double before moving to third on a sac bunt.
He attempted to score on Casey Rodrigue's fly ball to center, but junior LaMonte Wade made a brilliant throw to gun him down at the plate. Selmer used double plays in the fourth and the fifth to work out of jams.
The Terps put two men on in both the second and the fifth but were unable to score until the seventh. Sophomore Nick Cieri started that frame, reaching first after a wild pitch on strike three. Freshman Kengo Kawahara then walked and freshman Zach Jancarski game in to run for Cieri.
Jancarski scored on the next play. Freshman Kevin Biondic laid down a bunt that forced an errant throw from Indiana catcher Brad Hartong. Jancarski came around to score and the runners ended up on second and third with one out.
Wade then smacked a shot to short that Nick Ramos mishandled to load the bases. Freshman Kevin Smith then reached on a fielder's choice that allowed Kawahara to score to make it 2-0.
Another Indiana miscue provided the Terps with their third run. Sophomore Brandon Lowe grounded to reliever Jake Kelzer, but the Indiana hurler was unable to find an out and Biondic scored. Junior Kevin Martir then singled in Smith to make it 4-0 after seven.
Indiana responded with a couple of runs in the eighth. Consecutive hits chased junior Alex Robinson and put runners on second and third. Mooney entered and limited the damage to a pair of runs.
In the ninth, Mooney allowed a leadoff double, but struck out Isaiah Pasteur to end the game. The junior has notched a save in each of Maryland's three tournament games and his school record for career saves is now 30.
Kawahara reached base three times on the afternoon. Martir tallied two hits.
With the win, Maryland is one win shy of its all-time single-season record for victories. Dating back to last year, the Terrapins have won seven of their last nine postseason games.
The Terrapins return to action against either top-seeded Illinois or third-seeded Michigan in the Big Ten Tournament championship game. First pitch from Target Field is set for 2 p.m. ET and the game will be shown live on BTN.
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