Maryland baseball: No. 22 Terps top Titans 9-5, clinch series

Fullerton mistakes once again help the Terps take an early lead

It was a quick outing for a Terrapin starter, but not how one would have guessed. Dustin Vaught lined a pitch off of Tayler Stiles's head, and the Maryland southpaw had to leave the game. In came Rob Galligan. Vaught scored on a bunt for a single and two fly outs. Not the kind of beginning the Terrapins had hoped for.

But things turned around quickly in the bottom of the first inning. Brandon Lowe doubled down the left field line, and Kevin Smith was HBP. Kevin Martir singled in one run, and Smith scored when a Jose Cuas grounder was booted by the third baseman. Papio bunted, and reached first when there was confusion on how to play the ball by Fullerton. Although Jamal Wade grounded into 6-4-3 double play, the third Terrapin run of the inning came home.

The pesky Vaught doubled to start off the third inning. Josh Vargas flied out to Anthony Papio, but Vaught was able to take third. Josh Estill hit a grounder to short, with Vaught scoring. The Terps got the run back in the bottom of the inning when Smith singled, then came home on an opposite field double from Martir.

Galligan impressive once more

For the second week in a row Galligan put forth a lengthy and impressive outing. He went six innings, allowing one run on six hits, one walk, while striking out six Fullerton batters. What made this particularly striking was that he was pressed into service on short notice. When he left the game after pitching the top of the sixth, the Terps were holding onto a 4-2 lead.

The Terps got some needed cushion in their half of the sixth inning, once again with the help of a Cal State Fullerton miscue.. Wade walked and Kengo Kawahara singled. Justin Morris hit a grounder that the shortstop couldn't handle, filling the bases with no one out. One out later Lowe singled to center field and two Terrapin runs came home. After six inning the Terps led 6-2. The Terps added a run the next inning when Papio launched his fifth home run of the season.

Ryan Selmer came in to pitch in the seventh inning, and hurled two scoreless innings.

Terps' lead to much for Fullerton to overcome

Maryland stretched it's lead to 9-2 by tallying two runs in the eighth. Justin Morris lined a double to right center field, then came home on a Zach Jancarski single. After Lowe hit into a force out, Smith doubled him home.

Willie Rios took over for Selmer in the top of the ninth. Tyler Smith hit a lead-off single. After Chris Hudgins struck out, things then got a bit crazy. Tristan Hildebrandt doubled down the right field line. Vaught was HBP to load the bases. Vargas once again proved dangerous as he doubled to right field. But Papio's threw to Lowe, whose relay nabbed the runner at the plate. One run had come home, which made the score 9-3. Two more runs came home when Tanner Pinkston hit what looked like the final out, but Lowe threw wildly. Fortunately, Rios was able to get Jake Jeffries to hit a grounder to short that ended the game.

Rob Galligan got the well-deserved victory for his first win of the season, his mark now 1-2. The Terps moved to 27-10 overall, having clinched the series win over Cal State Fullerton.