Michael Iannazzo bit his lip, trying to hide his excitement. A smile still snuck across his face as he jogged the final 90 feet from third to home plate.
There was no more concealing it once he tapped home plate. Iannazzo’s face beamed as the freshman bumped helmets with teammates and met the pack of Terps in front of Maryland’s dugout to celebrate his first collegiate home run.
Iannazzo’s three-run homer handed Maryland a mid-game two-run lead in the Terps’ pivotal midweek matchup against James Madison. They held onto the lead following his hit and defeated the Dukes, 6-4. It was Maryland’s second win against James Madison (24-16, 10-8 Sun Belt) this season and third Quad 1 win.
Iannazzo has emerged of late, starting in five of Maryland’s (26-16, 6-9 Big Ten) last six games at third base. He’s started in place of Chris Hacopian, who shifted to designated hitter seven games ago. Coach Matt Swope said Hacopian is dealing with a muscular arm injury.
Iannazzo batted .400 with three RBIs in those previous six games. The freshman had made just seven appearances before the stretch.
“A lot of people were pretty surprised, I haven’t hit too many out during practice,” Iannazzo said. “It definitely felt great.”
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Hacopian hasn’t been hampered by his injury. The freshman preceded Iannazzo’s home run with a solo shot of his own in the same frame — cutting the Terps’ deficit to one. It was his team-leading 10th of the season.
Evan Smith earned his first collegiate start in just his 10th appearance of his freshman season. The left-hander surrendered an RBI double in the first to open his start.
After a scoreless second, Smith gave up two more runs in the third. Fenwick Trimble delivered an RBI double to bring one home. A wild pitch from Smith sent another across following a walk and a passed ball. Smith followed with his second walk and was pulled for Kenny Lippman.
Maryland started Ryan Van Buren on the mound for the first eight Tuesday midweeks of the season. Looking to shake things up, Swope opted for Meade Johnson last week against Delaware. This week, Smith got the nod.
The Terps will likely determine who starts those midweek games on a weekly basis in the final stretch of the season, pitching coach Jimmy Jackson said.
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“We’re trying to go with who we think is the best matchup versus the midweek team that we’re facing,” Jackson said. “It’s not a set role like it was.”
Lippman made his third relief outing — another rotation change after he started on Fridays to open the season. While the right-hander struggled in the Friday role, the staff still wanted to utilize Lippman’s high strikeout rate and thus moved him into a primary bullpen role.
The graduate student struck out four Dukes in 3 ⅔ innings while allowing only a run, earning his second win of the season. Lippman has posted a 3.29 ERA since moving to the bullpen.
“He did a great job coming in and minimizing,” Swope said. “That really gave us a chance in the middle innings to come back.”
After Lippman’s appearance, Logan Berrier made his team-leading 14th relief appearance of the season. The right-hander held James Madison scoreless for the final three innings.
The Terps entered Harrisonburg having dropped 10 of their last 15 contests, while James Madison entered ranked top-25 in RPI. With no more Quad 1 games remaining, Maryland’s win serves as a resume booster.
“If we play like we did today, oftentimes we’ll get a win,” Swope said.
