Box Score COLLEGE PARK, MD – Kevin Keister homered, and Kenny Lippman added a career-high nine strikeouts in a Terps' uniform on the mound as Maryland baseball handled Bryant, 8-3, at Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium on Friday.
Keister's solo shot occurred in the third third inning and It was his second home run of the season. The Terps (7-3) had solid hitting throughout, driving in runs in each of the first five innings. It was the first time Maryland accomplished that feat since March 28, 2023 against Georgetown.
It was Lippman's third appearance on the mound this season and he pitched six innings while allowing just three hits and one run. His collegiate career-high came at Denison where he once struck out 14 batters in a game. He received his first win of the season.
Trystan Sarcone entered the game in the seventh inning and struck out six batters to earn his second save of the season.
Leadoff hitter Eddie Hacopian went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and one run. He has notched hits in nine of 10 games this season and has RBIs in each of his last seven games. Hacopian has also recorded multiple RBIs in four straight games.
Sam Hojnar and Elijah Lambros added multiple hits. Each had one RBI and Lambros scored two runs. Chris Hacopian pitched in with two RBIs.
With his two knocks today, Lambros currently is on a nine game hitting streak
Bryant (1-5) had just five hits throughout the game. Shea Grady and Brandyn Durand were the only ones to record multiple hits.
Breaking Down The Action
- Kenny Lippman struck out two batters for a one-two-three inning to begin the game and hits by Eddie Hacopian and Sam Hojnar put them on third and first base respectively. Chris Hacopian then drove his brother home on a fielder's choice to second base. Maryland took a 1-0 lead after one.
- In the second inning, Elijah Lambros singled and Brayden Martin walked to bring up the Terps' top of the order. E. Hacopian cracked his second hit in two at-bats and drove home Lambros. The Terps took a 2-0 lead heading into the third.
- Kevin Keister swung at the first pitch of the third inning and smashed a solo home run over the center field wall to take a 3-0 advantage.
- With runners on first and second, Sam Hojnar singled to center field to drive home Martin. The Terrapins scored a run in every inning to enter the fifth with a 4-0 lead.
- Bryant scored an unearned run in the fifth to get on the board. In the bottom of the inning, the Terps scored again with an RBI single from Lambros. E. Hacopian continued his great hitting with a two-RBI single with bases loaded. C. Hacopian then doubled down the infield line to score another run. Maryland led 8-1 heading into the sixth.
- Trystan Sarcone entered the game in the seventh and Bryant scored with an RBI single. However, Sarcone struck out all three batters to enter the bottom of the inning with an 8-2 lead.
- Bryant hit a solo home run in the ninth, but Maryland still held an 8-3 lead. Sarcone struck out the next batter and the final Bulldog grounded into a double play.
Coach Swope's Thoughts
"Scoring in the first five innings was huge. When you do that on Friday night you get off to a good start and you're gonna wear the other team down. We really didn't give them much of an opportunity to build something up. When you're consistent like that and we talk about being relentless for 27 outs. So to score in every inning puts a lot of pressure on the other team. Kenny gave us a great Friday night start. We gave up one run, but that's what we expect out of him. He was pounding the zone and attacking, and he as a whole was great. I don't know the last time we had 15 k's in a game. So just overall the guys were pounding the zone and attacking the whole day."
Kenny Lippman on His Nine Strikeout Performance
"I'm feeling good and feeling more comfortable. Felt like the stuff was a lot sharper today, a lot cleaner. I felt a lot more settled than I have been in the last few starts. I wasn't seeing anything really different from them than the other teams we faced, just a lot more aggressive through the zone. My off-speed stuff was just a lot sharper today."
Numbers To Know
- 2: Kevin Keister hit his second home run of the season.
- 2: Trystan Sarcone grabbed his second save of the season.
- 4: Chris Hacopian recorded multiple RBIs for the third time this season.
- 7: Eddie Hacopian has RBIs in each of his last seven games.
- 9: Kenny Lippman struck out a career-high nine batters in a Maryland uniform.
- 9: E. Hacopian has hits in nine out of 10 games this season.
- 10: Jacob Orr, Elijah Lambros, and E. Hacopian have 10-game on-base streak to start to begin the season.
- 19: E. Hacopian had his 19th career game with multiple RBIs, doing so in four straight games.
- 22: Lambros had his 22nd career multi-hit game.
- 23: Keister hit the 23rd home run of his career.
- 24: Sam Hojnar recorded multiple hits for the 24th time in his career. It was his fifth time this season with multiple hits.
- 28: E. Hacopian had his 28th career game with multiple hits as a Terp, including five this season.
Up Next
- Maryland is back in action tomorrow at Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium for its second game of a three-game series against Bryant. First pitch is at 2 p.m. and the game will be streamed on Big Ten Plus and Maryland Baseball Network.
