How Maryland baseball fits into the Big Ten tournament bracket

When the weekend began, Maryland baseball was on the wrong side of the Big Ten tournament bubble. But the Terps responded with a massive weekend against Iowa when they needed one, sweeping the Hawkeyes at home to finish 12-12 in conference play and earn the No. 6 seed in this week’s tournament.

The Terps will open their postseason against No. 3-seed Illinois on Wednesday at 10 a.m. ET. It’s a double-elimination tournament, so the path from there depends on whether they win or lose. A win means a 6 p.m. ET (or later) start Thursday, but a loss means another 10 a.m. first pitch. Either way, Maryland will play either Michigan or Ohio State in its second contest.

Here’s the full bracket (which lists central time):

The Terps matched up with six of the other seven teams in the field (Nebraska being the lone exception), including each of the top four. Maryland took two out of three from Illinois on the road in April, staging a four-run comeback in the series opener before splitting a doubleheader the following day.

With a record just over .500 an RPI of 70, Maryland isn’t in the mix for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid, so unless it comes out of this weekend as the Big Ten champion, it’ll be the last week of the season.

In other news

Maryland women’s lacrosse is in the Final Four. Again. The No. 1-seed Terps dominated Denver in the NCAA quarterfinals Saturday evening.

And championship weekend is at Homewood Field in Baltimore, giving Maryland a notable home-field advantage. The Terps will take on No. 4-seed Northwestern on Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

The men’s lacrosse team, though ... welp. Maryland had a 12-7 lead in the fourth quarter, but stalled out on offense, couldn’t win a faceoff and saw its season end in overtime after a harrowing collapse.

In the NCAA women’s golf championships, Maryland’s Virunpat Olankitkunchai followed up a first-round 83 with an even-par 73 in the second round. She sits in a tie for 66th, up 35 spots, and with the tournament trimmed to 54 holes, she’ll have one round remaining in her season. Follow along with the live leaderboard here. (Note: the first-round scoring average at Blessings Golf Club was a ghastly 79.93, with the second round a few shots lower.)

While Bruno Fernando was at the NBA combine this weekend (more on that later this morning), Anthony Cowan Jr. will work out with the Sacramento Kings today.

Here’s Maryland women’s basketball signee Faith Masonius getting buckets.

And here’s a pair of legendary Maryland soccer coaches together.