OMAHA, Neb. – The sixth-seeded Maryland baseball team upended third-seeded Illinois, 6-2, in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament at TD Ameritrade Park Wednesday morning.   

What to Know

• Maryland got a sensational start from senior right-hander Hunter Parsons, who tossed seven and a third innings of four-hit, one run ball with four strikeouts. Parsons earned his 10^th win of the season.
• The Terps took the lead in the third. Sophomore Chris Alleyne walked before Josh Maguire legged out an infield single. Freshman Benjamin Cowles bunted the runners over and Alleyne then scored on a Randy Bednar groundout.
• Parsons was fantastic throughout his outing. The senior had some trouble in the fourth and gave up a run in the fifth, but beyond that sparkled against a talented Illini offense.
• The Terps big inning came in the eighth. Senior Taylor Wright opened the inning with a single before Maxwell Costes slugged his 13^th home run down the left field line. After Michael Pineiro was hit by a pitched, sophomore Justin Vought hit his tenth home of the year, a rocket to left-center, to make it 5-1.
• Parsons recorded an out in the eighth before making way for right-hander Mark DiLuia, who recorded the last two outs of the inning.
• In the top of the ninth, Wright led off with a single before Costes doubled. After a pair of outs were recorded, Alleyne laid down a perfect drag bunt single to plate Wright and make it 6-1.
• DiLuia recorded an out in the ninth before allowing two base runners. Senior closer John Murphy entered and after throwing away a potential double play ball to allow a run to score, struck out the final two to give the Terps their fifth straight win.

Other Stuff

• Parsons has now tossed 104.1 innings this season, the fourth-most in Maryland history. His 10 wins makes him just the second pitcher in Maryland history to win 10 games in a season. Mike Shawaryn recorded the other two double digit seasons in 2014 (11) and 2015 (13).
• Parsons is now tied for sixth all-time with 17 career wins as a Terp.
• The Terps are now 9-5 all-time at the Big Ten Tournament, the best all-time winning percentage in the tournament.
• Maryland head coach Rob Vaughn has now put up a five-win improvement from his first-year performance of 24-30 in 2018.
• Freshman Josh Maguire has reached base in nine consecutive games. He was on base four times today with a double, single and two walks.  
• At 29-27, the Terps are two games over .500 for the first time since March 29.
• Hunter Parsons' parents, Wayne and Cathy, had a star turn as they were interviewed after their son's fantastic performance. 10/10 stuff from the Parsons family today.
• The Terps traveled to Omaha in assorted jersey on Monday with Maxwell Costes donning the Terps jersey his brother Marty Costes wore for the 2016 Big Ten Tournament in Omaha. Both Costes' have now hit home runs in the Big Ten Tournament at TD Ameritrade Park, with Marty's coming against Indiana in that 2016 tournament. That is pretty special.
• "Plank", the piece of wood with a smiley face on it, is 4-0.

Up Next

Sixth-seeded Maryland will take on the winner of second-seeded Michigan and seventh-seeded Ohio State at 6 p.m. ET in the second round on Thursday. The game will be shown live on BTN. Maryland Baseball Network will have the coverage as well, via the MIXLR App. That's the MIXLR App, M-I-X-L-R. (Spelling is FUN!) 

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