Maryland Rallies to Defeat Penn State Baseball
COLLEGE PARK, Md. It was a tightly contested game at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium through the eighth inning, until outfielder Chris Alleyne hit a moonshot three-run homer, bouncing off the top of the batter’s eye in center field and sending the Terrapin faithful into a frenzy. That was the final nail in the coffin as Maryland (21-5 overall, 1-0 Big Ten) defeated Penn State (9-14 overall, 1-3 Big Ten).
Despite being the underdog on the road, Penn State put up a good fight against Maryland. The Nittany Lions were the first team to score, as Jay Harry took advantage of an error in center field and scrambled home to make it 1-0 in the second inning.
Maryland responded in the bottom half of that inning, as infielder Maxwell Costes scored on a sacrifice ground ball. The Terrapins scored two more unanswered runs in the third and fourth innings, respectively.
However, Penn State fired back at Maryland. The bats of Matt Wood and Josh Spiegel woke up, with two RBIs in the sixth inning. Wood’s RBI was a single that dropped into left field, scoring Johnny Piacentino. Then, Spiegel’s sacrifice fly scored Wood, which tied the game 3-3. The Nittany Lions were applying pressure to Maryland pitcher Nick Dean, and they weren’t done yet.
Penn State’s momentum continued into the seventh inning, as Billy Gerlott hit a sacrifice fly which scored Ben Kailher. That gave Penn State its second but final lead of the game with a 4-3 score.
Despite playing competitively against Maryland, Penn State’s pitching ultimately could not get the job done against the Terps’ potent offense. Maryland came back to score two more runs in the seventh inning which put it ahead 5-4. Alleyne’s homerun was one inning later, and that sealed the deal for Maryland’s win.
Maryland’s offense is loaded with depth. That was very clear as its batters continued to get on base, which played a huge role in its victory. All but one of its batters had at least one hit in the game. When each player steps up offensively and plays that way, it is more likely than not that a victory will occur.
However, there is something to be said for how gritty the Nittany Lions played. Facing Maryland on the road is never easy, and the entire team deserves credit for sticking in the game until the end. The Nittany Lions still managed to score four runs despite managing only seven hits against Dean and Noah Mrotek, which is impressive.
What ended up costing Penn State was its pitching. Both Jaden Henline and Tyler Shingledecker had ERA’s over five, while Mason Mellott had a whopping 21.60 ERA. That simply is not going to cut it in order to beat talented teams such as Maryland.
Nolan Wick is a first-year majoring in journalism. To contact him, email nhw5046@psu.edu.
