With the bases loaded and the score knotted at three Sunday, Terrapins baseball infielder Kevin Biondic executed a sacrifice squeeze. The go-ahead run scored to cap a three-run ninth-inning comeback.
Biondic’s bunt lifted the Terps to a 4-3 win against Purdue on Sunday afternoon at Lambert Field in West Lafayette, Indiana, to complete the series sweep.
After the Terps notched four hits through the first eight innings, they led off the ninth with back-to-back singles. A hit batter loaded the bases and knocked starter Gavin Downs out of the game.
Third baseman Jose Cuas drew an RBI walk and then the Terps tied the game when first baseman Kevin Martir scored on an infield grounder. Biondic came on to pinch hit after center fielder Kengo Kawahara struck out to finish the rally with his bunt.
Terps right-hander Kevin Mooney secured the victory with his fifth save of the season.
While the Terps scored 19 runs in two games Friday, they struggled early Sunday to generate offense. The Terps (30-13, 11-4 Big Ten) tallied two hits in the first six innings while Purdue (13-31, 1-14) jumped out to a 2-0 lead.
The Boilermakers manufactured a run in the third with a hit, a walk, an error and a groundout. In the fifth, they forced Terps left-hander Jake Drossner out of the game. Drossner surrendered two runs, one earned, in 4.1 innings. While he limited Purdue to one hit and struck out four, he issued three walks.
In his last two starts, Drossner has given up two runs in 12.1 innings after struggling earlier in the season as the No. 2 starter before eventually being relegated to the bullpen.
Despite not completing five innings, Drossner turned in a solid outing to round out a strong weekend for the Terps starters, who combined to give up four runs, three earned, in 18.1 innings.
The Terps cut Purdue’s lead in half with a run in the seventh behind a RBI double from Cuas. The Boilermakers answered with a run in the bottom of the inning, however, to push the lead back to two.
But the Boilermakers couldn’t hold the lead in the ninth after the Terps completed their second ninth-inning comeback in the last two weeks. The Terps also scored three runs in the final frame to beat Liberty, 6-4, on April 15th.
