When Marty Costes returned to the dugout after his fourth-inning double in Maryland baseball’s 15-2 win over Penn State on Sunday afternoon, strength coach Esteban Doria told the right fielder he was a home run away from hitting for the cycle.
Costes helped the Terps build an early lead against Nittany Lions right-hander Myles Gayman. He recorded an RBI single in the first, a two-RBI triple in the second and a double to left field in the bottom of the fourth.
But with three tries to become the first Maryland player to hit for the cycle since Chuck Easter did it April 3, 2001, Costes failed to hit a home run.
“Esteban brought [the cycle] up and we were like, ‘You can’t do that, you’re jinxing the guy,'” said third baseman AJ Lee. “He was hammering balls all day [and] taking good swings. He was doing what he does.”
Costes’ first hit fueled a three-run first inning, but he wasn’t the only Maryland hitter to find success against Gayman. The first time through the lineup, five Terps reached base against the hurler, who entered Sunday with a 4.09 ERA.
Maryland’s early offensive outburst was its second in as many days. The display represented the type of production coach John Szefc expects from the Terps (24-11, 9-3 Big Ten), who were the preseason favorite to win the Big Ten.
After Costes doubled in the fifth, his fourth at-bat of the afternoon, Maryland had a nine-run advantage against the Nittany Lions (12-23, 1-8).
“Our guys have run off a pretty good plan all week,” Szefc said. “We didn’t score a lot on Friday, but [right-hander Sal] Biasi is good, so the fact we were able to squeak that thing out against him was big for us. The last two days we’ve been very consistent.”
Though right-hander Taylor Bloom didn’t require additional offense, lasting seven innings and giving up just two runs, the Terps maintained their plate approach. Maryland scored in every inning except the seventh, with Lee’s second home run of the day in the eighth providing the final blow.
The high-scoring affair put extra attention on Costes’ final three at-bats. After Doria made his dugout announcement about the cycle, Costes approached each plate appearance hoping to blast a home run against a hanging breaking ball.
Instead, Costes popped out in his final two at-bats to eliminate his chance at the rare feat. Still, the Terps, with a season-high 19 hits, were able to secure the win.
“In theory, I should have tried to get on base a little bit more at the end of the game, but I definitely had a lot of fun out there,” Costes said. “It felt good to even be in that position. A lot of that pressure was taken off of me because of how my teammates played.”
With the exception of a switch at catcher Saturday, Szefc used the same lineup in all three games against the Nittany Lions. The decision was beneficial again Sunday, as the Terps picked up their second Big Ten series sweep of the season.
“You want to put the best fit out there,” Szefc said. “Every one of these games is important if you want to win a Big Ten championship.”
