Maryland baseball erases 8-run deficit to defeat USC Upstate, 11-8

USC Upstate took a commanding 8-0 in the fifth inning of Maryland baseball’s final midweek game of the season, but the Terps never gave in, posting 11 unanswered runs on five home runs.

After Jacob Orr hit an RBI single, Kevin Keister stepped up to the plate in the seventh inning with two runners on. Down 8-6, the team captain proceeded to rocket a three-run shot to left-center field, seizing the lead.

“Me and Jacob Orr have been struggling of late not getting hits, and he told [me], ‘If I get a hit here, then you’re going to get a hit here,’” Keister said. “So after I saw his [hit] fall, I had a lot of confidence, you know, got a pitch over the middle and it happened to come true.”

But the Terps weren’t done in the seventh, as Devin Russell smashed another home run, his second of the day.

Maryland shut down the Spartans in the final two innings to complete an improbable comeback win, 11-8.

“That’s one of the greatest comebacks I’ve ever been a part of in my whole career, whether it was a player or coach, being down 8-0 versus a really good team that’s trying to win just as much as we are,” Maryland head coach Matt Swope said.

Maryland had a bullpen day on Wednesday, with Trystan Sarcone taking the first two innings. He gave up two earned runs on two hits and a walk. USC Upstate’s Koby Kropf and Troy Hamilton got the scoring started in the second inning, pounding back-to-back solo home runs.

In the third inning, Nate Haberthier hopped on the mound and allowed four runs. Hamilton hit an RBI double that was misplayed by Elijah Lambros, who was later taken out of the game. When asked about the outfielder’s exit, Swope declined to comment.

USC Upstate added one more in the fourth inning, as Noah Sullivan hit a solo home run off Evan Smith, who pitched just 1 ⅓ innings.

The Spartans continued the solo home run parade in the fifth inning. This time, Andrew Johnson surrendered a Tyler Lang deep shot.

The Terps fought back in the bottom of the fifth inning, though. Russell plowed a solo shot off Braden Consaul and Chris Hacopian slammed a two-run home run off Tommy Henninger to cut USC Upstate’s lead to five.

Then, Ben Nardi, who replaced Lambros, hit an opposite-field, two-run shot, bringing Maryland within three runs in the sixth inning.

Johnson worked the sixth inning and got one out in the seventh before being pulled for Kenny Lippman, who escaped the seventh courtesy of Eddie Hacopian’s heroics. The infielder snagged a line drive and caught a pop-up for the final two outs.

Lippman also worked a scoreless inning in the eighth with the help of a timely double play.

Logan Berrier entered in the ninth inning, assuming his usual closing role. He got Kropf to ground into a double play, slamming the door on a monumental comeback victory.

Three things to know

1. Russell’s two-home run day. Russell showed off his power on Wednesday, smashing two home runs. He got the Terps on the board in the fifth inning and then gave them two insurance runs in the seventh.

“I was seeing the ball well and … the first home run, he kind of just threw me a slider to kind of get me over slider, and I luckily stayed back and I hammered it,” Russell said. “The second one was a 2-0 fastball, so I was sitting fastball all the way.”

2. Nine combined home runs. USC Upstate and Maryland combined for nine home runs on Wednesday. The Spartans hit four solo home runs in the first five innings and the Terps followed with five home runs in the final four innings.

“This is one of the rare days this year that we’ve seen in the past a lot that ‘The Bob’ plays like a little-league ballpark,” Keister said. “So, it was warm, the ball was caring, so we had faith that, you know, we have good hitters and we put a lot of good swings on balls and we ended up coming back because this ballpark couldn’t hold some balls we hit.”

3. Hacopian’s defense. Hacopian made some huge plays at first base, robbing two big hits from the Spartans.

“He’s an elite defender,” Swope said. “He’s the best first baseman in the league. He’s been fantastic. He’s always been very good defensively.”