Maryland baseball obliterated by Indiana for second straight game, 19-4

For the second straight game in Maryland baseball’s weekend series against Indiana, the Hoosier bats came out to play, crushing the Terps 19-4 on Sunday to take the weekend series in College Park.

A series that started with a Maryland shutout victory ended with two blowouts, as Indiana scored a combined 39 runs in the last two games of the series. The Hoosiers hit four home runs Sunday, bringing their weekend total to 12.

Trevor LaBonte took the mound for the Terps (13-13, 1-2 Big Ten), looking to continue a steady freshman season. However, Sunday was far from that, as the tall right-hander gave up nine earned runs in just 2.1 innings pitched. Five Maryland relievers combined to allow 10 runs, although just two were earned.

Indiana (17-10, 5-1 Big Ten) had three players with three RBIs or more, and four players knocked in multiple runs. Three different Hoosiers hit home runs, including Matt Lloyd, who hit two long balls and drove in seven runs. Drew Ashley added a homer, three walks and five RBIs. The Hoosiers scored 15 of their 19 runs in the first five innings, scoring in four of those five.

Elijah Dunham started the scoring in the first with an RBI single, scoring Matt Gorski. Cole Barr followed with an RBI sacrifice fly to score Drew Ashley. Maryland cut the lead in half in the bottom half, as AJ Lee led off the game with a solo home run on the first pitch he saw, like Chris Alleyne did yesterday.

But Indiana followed in the second with some help from the long ball. Ashley hit a three-run home run to put the Hoosiers up 5-1 and Matt Lloyd followed with a solo shot to extend the lead to five. In the third, Ashley recorded his fourth RBI of the day, a bases loaded walk that scored Scotty Bradley. Lloyd again followed with a bases clearing double to get up to four RBIs on the day, putting Indiana up 10-1.

In the bottom of the third, Maryland put another run across, as Taylor Wright hit an RBI single to score Randy Bednar, cutting the lead to 10-2.

Indiana went scoreless in the fourth, but posted a five-spot in the fifth. Cole Barr began it with an RBI fielder’s choice, scoring Ashley. Grant Richardson followed, reaching base on an error by pitcher Nick Turnbull, as Lloyd scored an unearned run. Scotty Bradley followed him, hitting a three-run home run, his third in two days, putting Indiana up 15-2.

It would take a few more innings for Indiana to score again, but the Hoosiers put another crooked number on the board in the eighth, as Ashley picked up his fifth RBI of the day with a fielder’s choice. Lloyd followed with his second home run of the day, a three-run shot to push his RBI total to seven. He was one of three Indiana players to drive in as many or more runs than Maryland scored the entire game.

Maryland scored another run in the bottom half, as Bednar doubled and advanced to third on a wild pitch and Kody Milton drove him home with an RBI groundout to make the score 19-3. The Terps scored another in the ninth thanks to a Josh Maguire solo home run, but that wasn’t nearly enough, as the Terps dropped the last two games by a combined 39-9 score.

The Terps will travel to play William & Mary on Tuesday before going to play a weekend series at Illinois, one of the conference leaders.