Maryland baseball survives Alabama State comeback to get 1st win of 2017

After two losses to start the season at the hands of Louisville and Ball State, Maryland baseball survived an Alabama State comeback in 9-7 a win.

The Terps captured their first win of the season in their third game of the Clearwater Tournament, but the Hornets didn’t make it easy. Maryland took a 9-3 lead into the ninth inning, but surrendered four runs before finally stopping the bleeding.

A big six-run fourth inning gave freshman Tyler Blohm the support he needed to secure his first collegiate win in his first start.

The game started slow, and the Terps fell victim to a three-run second inning from the Hornets. Part of the rally was due to an error, which was a big story in Saturday night’s game against Louisville.

The Terps clawed back, scoring runs in each of the next two innings. But it was the fourth inning that changed the dynamic of the dame. Kevin Smith, a preseason All-American for the Terps, started out the inning with a single, his first hit of the season. That single was big for Smith, who went 0-for-5 with 5 strikeouts in Saturday’s game.

From there, the Terps waited out Alabama State starter Terrell McCall and were able to tire him out. In his 3.1 innings of work, he threw 86 pitches. Maryland was able to bat around in the inning, scoring six runs. Marty Costes and Nick Cieri highlighted the inning with two-run singles.

Blohm was able to settle into his own, pitching five great innings overall. In his relief, Ryan Selmer shut down the Alabama State offense in three scoreless innings to solidify Maryland’s lead.

Maryland tacked on an insurance run in the ninth before Mike Rescigno came on to close the door for the Terps. However, he ran into some trouble in the ninth, loading up the bases before throwing a wild pitch and giving up a two-run double to Eriq White, closing the lead to 9-6.

Cage Cox then drove in another run on a RBI single, closing the gap to 9-7 before Maryland even recorded an out. Taylor Stiles came to relieve Rescigno, recording an out before getting replaced by Andrew Miller, who was able get a crucial strikeout and a groundout to finish off the Alabama State attack, stranding runners at second and third to end the game.

Maryland will now travel to Baton Rouge to play No. 3 LSU in a weekend series starting on Friday.