Maryland baseball takes series opener vs. Penn State, 5-2

Behind a stellar pitching performance from Hunter Parsons and a solid offensive output, Maryland baseball defeated Penn State in its weekend series opener, 5-2,

Friday’s game was billed as a pitchers’ duel between Hunter Parsons and Dante Biasi, and it lived up to the hype. Biasi threw six innings of three-run baseball, striking out 11 Maryland batters. Parsons threw even better, throwing seven innings of two-run ball, striking out nine. The Terps relied heavily on their Friday starter to get the job done, and the offense responded, scoring three on Biasi, who came into the game with a sub-2.00 ERA.

AJ Lee and Taylor Wright both had three-hit games, going 3-for-3 each. Lee also scored two runs and Wright drove in two.

Maryland began the scoring in the third with a Randy Bednar sacrifice fly, scoring Caleb Walls, and a Wright RBI single, scoring Lee. The Terps tacked on another in the fifth, as Wright doubled home Lee to give Maryland a 3-0 lead.

Penn State came back in the bottom half, cutting the lead to one as Ryan Sloniger doubled home Mac Hippenhammer and Kris Kremer, shrinking the Maryland lead to 3-2.

Maryland scored two more in the seventh, starting with Walls’ second run scored of the day, an unearned run off a botched pickoff attempt by reliever Jared Freilich. The righty came in to replace Biasi and allowed Walls to score from second on the throwing error. Four batters later, pinch hitter Michael Pineiro singled home Bednar on an RBI bunt single as Maryland took a 5-2 lead.

For seven innings, it was the Hunter Parsons show. He shut down a struggling Penn State offense, putting Maryland in prime position to take the series opener. He turned the ball over to Sean Fisher, who threw a scoreless inning of relief.

John Murphy closed the deal in the ninth, throwing a scoreless inning to record the save as the Terps moved above .500 in conference play.

The Terps and Nittany Lions will play two on Saturday to finish the series, the first game beginning at 2 p.m. ET.