Maryland baseball shortstop Kevin Smith dove to his right, snagged a line drive off the bat of William & Mary third baseman Zach Pearson and nonchalantly flipped the ball toward the mound, trotting back to the dugout after the top of the sixth inning.
In the bottom of the frame, with the Terps trailing 6-4, Smith followed left fielder Madison Nickens’ bunt single with a double to center field to start the inning. Center fielder Zach Jancarski’s double scored both runners, tying the game, and second baseman Nick Dunn’s RBI single put Maryland ahead.
The Terps held on, 9-8, at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium for their fourth straight win.
“We wanted to keep grinding it out,” Smith said. “Knowing you can put up four [runs] in any inning is a big confidence boost, so once one guy gets it going with a quality [at-bat], it just falls in from there.”
Maryland (5-5) went 6-for-14 with runners in scoring position, while the Tribe (6-5) went 3-for-12.
Right-hander Hunter Parsons retired the Tribe in order in the first inning and seemed primed to do so again after forcing a pop out to start the second. But the sophomore then allowed a three-run home run to shortstop Kyle Wrighte and a three-run double to second baseman Cullen Large, putting the Terps in a 6-0 hole. Parsons didn’t finish the inning.
When coach John Szefc motioned for Ryan Hill to start throwing in the bullpen, the right-hander wasn’t discouraged.
“When coach tells you to run down and get hot, the adrenaline kicks in,” Hill said. “You’re getting pumped, you’re ready to get going and get in there.”
In the bottom half of the inning, Maryland staged a four-run rally against William & Mary right-hander Aaron Fernandez, who also didn’t make it out of the frame. Designated hitter Will Watson began the scoring with an RBI single. Then third baseman Kevin Biondic’s single drove home two more runs before he scored on a wild pitch.
“We had a lot of really big contributions offensively,” Szefc said. “Biondic’s two-out base hit up the middle — that’s a backbreaker right there for them.”
Maryland took the lead on Jancarski and Dunn’s RBIs. The duo combined for four of the Terps’ 14 hits.
Trailing 9-7 in the final frame, William & Mary threatened to erase the deficit. It scored once and had the tying run in scoring position with one out.
The Terps chose to stay with Ryan Selmer, the team’s fifth pitcher of the afternoon, and the right-hander closed the game by retiring the next two batters.
“I don’t think we were nervous at all,” Hill said. “Selmer had it. When he’s out there, I know he’s going to get the job done.”
