The Terps evened up the weekend series.
Behind a great start by Omar Melendez and an offensive outburst against the best pitching staff in the conference, Maryland baseball downed Nebraska Saturday, 11-2, setting up a rubber match on Sunday.
Maryland hopped out in front immediately when Eddie Hacopian sent the first pitch of the game over the left-field fence.
“I was pissed off from the fans chirping me [last night],” Hacopian said. “Before the game, I was like, ‘First pitch, I’m gonna hammer something’, and I ended up doing it and it felt unbelievable.”
And Maryland wasn’t done in the first inning. With two outs, Jacob Orr drove in two more with a single into center field, putting Nebraska starter Mason McConnaughey on the ropes.
Maryland forced McConnaughey out of the game in the second inning when Chris Hacopian sent his brother home with a sacrifice fly for the Terps’ fifth run.
Meanwhile, Melendez deal for the Terps. He worked three consecutive scoreless innings before allowing a solo home run in the fourth. But with a heavy cushion, he stayed composed, recovering to work a scoreless fifth inning.
“He’s a seasoned veteran,” head coach Matt Swope said of Melendez. “He has a lot of experience and he gave us kind of the spark that we needed today.”
In the sixth inning, the Terps extended their lead to 10 courtesy of a couple of long home runs. Elijah Lambros hit a two-run shot to dead center, which Sam Hojnar followed up with a three-run blast to completely break the game open.
Up 11-1, Melendez returned for the sixth, and ended the frame with a strikeout on his 100th pitch of the afternoon. The junior southpaw, in a newly discovered role, finished the day giving up two earned runs on six hits to go along with six strikeouts. Based on that statline, it looks like Swope might have found his new Saturday starter.
“It was a great win today,” Melendez said. “I’m very proud of myself and of the team. We were able to execute.”
Kenny Lippman entered in relief in the seventh and was able to strand the bases loaded. He then made his way comfortably through the rest of the order in the next two innings to record the save, securing a massive victory for the Terps’ Big Ten Tournament hopes.
Three things to know
1. Melendez was strong in his first weekend start. Departing from his usual bullpen role, Melendez made a good case to become a permanent member of the weekend rotation with six strong innings.
2. Home runs loomed large. Maryland benefited from three massive home runs Saturday. Blasts from Eddie Hacopian, Elijah Lambros and Sam Hojnar accounted for six of Maryland’s 11 runs.
3. An important win. Big Ten play has brought out all kinds of inconsistency from the Terps. But Saturday, they got off to a strong start and received stellar pitching. That type of performance will need to become the standard as the regular season winds down.