Maryland baseball holds off Illinois for 9-8 win

After some early struggles, Maryland’s pitching staff settled in and earned a narrow victory.

Maryland baseball benefited from an early offensive explosion and held off a late push from Illinois to win the second game of their weekend series, 9-8, Saturday in College Park.

Saturday’s win was crucial for Maryland, which will have a chance Sunday to end a streak of four straight series losses. Doing so against the Fighting Illini — who sit first in the BIg Ten standings — makes the opportunity even more enticing.

There were plenty of fireworks early on Saturday. Maryland put up four runs in the first inning, but Omar Melendez gave up a long three-run home run to Jacob Schroeder in the second. Maryland center fielder Elijah Lambros answered with a no-doubt home run to center field shortly after, however Melendez then gave up a two-run home run to Vytas Valincius, tying the game at five.

Melendez was pulled after just 2 ⅔ innings. He gave up five earned runs on seven hits.

“He left some stuff up in the zone, maybe a little bit too much today,” Terps head coach Matt Swope said of Melendez. “He’s got to go to work that changeup down and then the fastball up in the zone.”

Devin Russell put the Terps right back in the lead with a third-inning two-run home run before Eddie Hacopian hit an RBI single to right field to make it 8-5, and Illinois added a run in the top of the fourth. But things cooled down thereafter. The next five innings were scoreless.

Kenny Lippman was lights-out for Maryland after relieving Melendez. He gave the Terps some length, going 4 ⅓ innings, and gave up just one earned run, posting five strikeouts.

Maryland got some more run support in the bottom of the seventh when Hacopian hit an RBI double, setting the stage for reliever Logan Berrier to finish the game.

However, shortly after Berrier entered for the eighth inning, Illinois started inching closer. A hit-by-pitch and passed ball made it a one-run game, and after the Terps went scoreless in the bottom half, the pressure was on.

Schroeder got on base with a single, and a sacrifice bunt brought him to second. But with two outs, Berrier sent Connor Milton down on strikes to end it.

“I said, ‘There wasn’t even a question, we’re gonna send you back out,’” Swope said of his conversation with Berrier. “‘You’ve been lights out all year. ... Take a deep breath and go back out there, have a clean inning and then get us a dub.’ And that’s what he did.”

Three things to know

1. Lippman was crucial out of the bullpen. After being taken out of the weekend rotation, Lippman has settled into his new bullpen role well. His performance on Saturday was paramount in the Terps’ win.

2. Lambros had a big day. Lambros recorded three hits, including a home run, out of the nine spot in the lineup. “It’s just like, kind of more of what we expect from him if if we’re gonna make a run and we’re gonna do some things here down the stretch,” Swope said.

3. The offense broke out. Maryland’s offense put up nine runs, able to outscore the Illini despite a rough start from the Terps’ pitching staff.

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