Maryland baseball sweeps doubleheader and weekend series against Rutgers

Maryland baseball took both halves of Sunday’s doubleheader against Rutgers to finish a sweep of the weekend series. The Terps are now 18-8 overall and 5-1 in the Big Ten, while the Scarlet Knights drop to 10-17 overall and 0-3 in the conference. Maryland stays in third in the Big Ten standings with the sweep.

Game 1: Maryland 6, Rutgers 1

Maryland’s starting pitcher, Taylor Bloom, lasted only four innings, but reliever Tayler Stiles ultimately shut the door on the Rutgers offense, pitching four scoreless innings of one-hit relief to earn the win.

The Terps took the lead in the top of the second inning, as Brandon Gum came around after a leadoff single to score on a passed ball. Rutgers’ Jawaun Harris tied the game with a single in the bottom of the third, but the carlet Knights left the bases loaded in the fourth and fifth.

The Terps came alive offensively in the late innings, scoring five of their six runs in the seventh and eighth. In the seventh inning, the Terps bunted home two runs. First, Madison Nickens reached on a bunt single, but moved over to third on a throwing error, allowing the runner from third to score. Then, Nickens came home on a sacrifice bunt from AJ Lee.

In the eighth inning, the Terps scored three, led by Nick Dunn, who tripled down the right field line. Dunn would then score on a balk, and Will Watson singled home Marty Costes for another run.

Five Maryland players got hits, and Dunn and Watson were the only Terps to have a multi-hit game. Terps pitching got six strikeouts on the day, surrendering eight hits, and walking four.

Game 2: Maryland 9, Rutgers 1

Freshman Tyler Blohm pitched 5.2 innings of one-run, one-hit baseball. He struck out five batters, and overall in the game, Maryland pitching only gave up three hits and struck out 10 Scarlet Knights.

Zach Jancarski, Costes, Gum, and Lee led the Terps on the offensive end. All four had multi-hit games, and the four combined to drive in seven of Maryland’s nine runs. Costes and Gum went a combined 5-for-9 with two home runs and five RBIs.

Like the first game, the Terps scored the first run of the game, this time in the top of the first inning. Zach Jancarski and Marty Costes both singled, and they would both advance to scoring position after a throwing error. Then, Brandon Gum singled both of them home, giving Maryland the early 2-0 lead.

The Terps broke the game open in the top of the third. Costes and Gum started out the inning with back-to-back home runs. Will Watson and Nick Cieri both walked, and they would both come around to score later in the inning. Watson scored due to a failed pickoff attempt by the catcher, and Cieri scored from a Patrick Hisle double in the gap.

The Terps tacked on two more in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Nickens and an RBI single from Lee. In the fifth, Costes added another RBI with a sacrifice fly that scored Jancarski, who led off the inning with a single.

The Terps will come home for one game against Richmond and will then travel to Nebraska to play the Cornhuskers in a weekend series next week.