By the third inning Tuesday, both Maryland baseball and William & Mary’s starting pitchers had been chased, and their replacements would do little to prevent the slugfest that had already begun to unfold.
Terps left-hander Tuck Tucker allowed five runs in 1 ⅓ innings, while Tribe southpaw Justin Pearson allowed just one run, but exited after two innings.
And from there, Maryland’s bats exploded en route to a 16-10 victory, with a fifth-inning grand slam from catcher Justin Vought breaking the game open to avenge last week’s loss to William & Mary.
Both teams scored one run in the first inning. The Tribe (20-11) began to pull away in the next frame, after back-to-back doubles from left fielder David Angstadt and shortstop Kyle Wrighte helped put William & Mary ahead, 4-1.
After Tucker was pulled, right-hander Mark DiLuia loaded the bases with an infield single and hit the next batter to force in the fourth run of the inning and give the Tribe a 5-1 lead. He began the third inning by allowing a single and hitting another batter. After an error by third baseman Taylor Wright, a sacrifice fly pushed William & Mary’s advantage to 6-1.
Facing the Tribe bullpen in the bottom of the third, though, the Terps (16-15) batted around and erupted for six runs.
Wright and first baseman Maxwell Costes hit back-to-back solo home runs to get two runs back, and two RBI singles, a bases-loaded walk and a sacrifice fly pushed Maryland ahead, 7-6, before Wright flew out to end the inning.
Two frames later, the Terps did one better. Three walks and two singles to the first five batters of the fifth inning accounted for two runs, and after a sacrifice fly and another walk loaded the bases, Vought mashed a grand slam to that gave the Terps a seven-run fifth inning and a 14-6 lead.
DiLuia settled down and stifled William & Mary’s offense, completing 4 ⅔ innings while allowing one earned run and striking out four. His appearance helped bridge the gap for the Terps’ bullpen following Tucker’s early exit.
Left-hander Sean Fisher allowed one run in two innings before right-hander Mike Vasturia gave up two ninth-inning scores for the Tribe.
Designated hitter Josh Maguire continued his mid-season emergence, hitting his third home run in his past six games and racking up his fourth RBI of the season, despite having played just seven games during his freshman season thus far.
Maryland’s 16-run spot was its highest run total this year, helping it recover from its first midweek loss last week before facing West Virginia on Wednesday.
