UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Maryland baseball team split a doubleheader with Penn State on Saturday and won its first road Big Ten series of the season at Medlar Park Saturday.
The Terrapins (24-19, 9-6 Big Ten) received fantastic starting pitching over the two games and found their offense in game two.
Game Two: Maryland 8, Penn State 3
Sophomore Brian Shaffer tossed seven strong innings and freshman Marty Costes racked up three hits as the Terps defeated Penn State, 8-3, to take game two of the doubleheader and the series.
The Terps struck first in the opening frame. Junior Madison Nickens led off the game with a single, and after a pair of outs, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error. Costes produced an infield single that plated Nickens to give Maryland a 1-0 lead.
The second run came an inning later. Junior Nick Cieri singled up the middle and moved to second on Zach Jancarski's sacrifice bunt. Redshirt freshman Andrew Bechtold took the first pitch he saw back up the middle to score Cieri.
Maryland took advantage of a Penn State miscue to score in the fourth. After Kevin Biondic singled and Cieri walked, Jancarski's sac bunt forced a high throw from the second baseman that allowed Biondic to come around and score. Bechtold then hit a sac fly to left to bring in Jancarski and give Maryland a 4-0 lead.
After Penn State took advantage of a pair of Maryland errors to score a run in the sixth, the Terps responded with a four-spot in the ensuing half inning. Nickens singled to start the inning, but Smith laid down a solid bunt that drew a throwing error from the pitcher that allowed the runners to advance a base. Nickens then scored on a wild pitch to make the score 5-1.
Freshman Nick Dunn came through with a single over a drawn in infield to score Smith before Costes ripped a double down the left field line to plate his fellow freshman. Biondic then executed a nice sac bunt to move Costes over and Cieri lifted a sac fly to right to score the fourth run of the inning.
Shaffer was in control through most of his seven innings of work, tying a career high with seven strikeouts. He at one point retired 14 straight batters and did not walk any in his outing.
Freshman Hunter Parsons pitched a clean eighth before junior Mike Rescigno gave up a run in the ninth, but finished the game with a strikeout.
Costes finished with three hits and a home run away from the cycle with two RBI. Of the Terps 11 hits, Dunn and Costes notched multi-hit games and seven Maryland players recorded base knocks.
Game One: Penn State 2, Maryland 0
Sophomore Taylor Bloom tossed eight innings of two-run ball, but Maryland was unable to overcome Penn State in a 2-0 defeat.
Maryland threatened throughout the early part of the contest. In the first, freshman Nick Dunn singled up the middle before freshman Marty Costes sent up to third on a single down the right field line. Sophomore Kevin Biondic was unable to plate a run, striking out to end the inning.
Penn State took the lead on a lead-off solo home run. The Terps once again had two on with two down in the second in the form of senior Anthony Papio and sophomore Zach Jancarski, but junior Madison Nickens flied out.
The two-out threat was on again in the third. Dunn drew a walk before a Biondic single and Nick Cieri walk loaded the bases. Papio could not capitalize, grounding out to first to end the frame.
The Maryland offense stalled from that point on, unable to generate any offense behind a solid outing from Bloom, who worked out of a couple of jams to keep the Terps within striking distance.
Maryland's final serious threat came in the eighth. Cieri ripped a double with two outs before Papio walked. Penn State closer Jack Anderson ended the threat, striking out the pinch hitting Kengo Kawahara to end the inning.
Maryland returns to action Wednesday against Towson in the Ripken Cup at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, Md. Action is scheduled for 7 p.m., and the action can be heard live on the Maryland Baseball Network.
– Terps –
