Maryland baseball beats High Point, 9-2, in last regular season game

In the last game of its regular season, Maryland baseball jumped out to an early lead and never looked back in a 9-2 win over High Point. The victory broke a four game losing streak and prevented a sweep at the hands of the Panthers.

The Terrapins pounded out 14 hits, with four batters getting multiple hits. Kevin Smith and Brandon Gum hit the ball hard all game, each gathering three hits. The bottom third of Maryland’s batting order went a collective 7-for-13.

Taylor Bloom threw an effective six innings, scattering eight hits and not walking a batter, allowing just two runs.

For the first time all series, Maryland got on the board first. Brandon Gum led off the game by hitting a shot in the right center field gap for a triple. He came home when A.J. Lee grounded out to short.

The Terps added to their lead in their next at bat. Kevin Smith doubled and Madison Nickens lined an RBI single. Nickens swiped second, then came home when Justin Morris hit a rope to right. Two more runs came across as Gum was hit by a pitch and Marty Costes cleared the bases when he doubled down the third base line.

Maryland continued to pour it on in the third inning. Watson was hit-by-pitch and stole second. He hurt himself on the slide, and Pat Hisle came in to replace him and quickly took third on an errant pick-off throw. Smith made it 6-0 when he singled to left. Nickens tripled and scored when the throw to third went past the third baseman.

Bloom blanked the Panthers through the first four innings. He allowed a lone run in the fifth when Jordan Sergent doubled with two outs, and then came home when Zach Vandergrift chopped a single through the box.

The Terps got the run back in their half of the sixth inning. Lee singled past the third baseman and Costes walked. The Terps executed a double steal, putting both runners in scoring position. Dunn walked to load the bases. Pinch hitter Dan Maynard hit a sac fly to make it 9-1.

High Point tried to mount a rally in the bottom of the sixth. Two singles and a hit batter loaded the bases with one out, and Hunter Lee singled in a run to make the score 9-2. But Bloom was able to get two flyouts to escape the jam.

Tayler Stiles relieved Bloom in the seventh inning. The senior southpaw threw three shutout innings, striking out six batters. He was credited with a save.

Bloom got the victory to move to 6-2 on the year. Maryland concludes its regular season with a 34-19 record.

With Michigan beating Michigan State Sunday, the Terps end up being the No. 4 seed in the double-elimination Big Ten Tournament. They’ll play No. 5 Iowa Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. ET.