COLUMBUS, Ohio. -- The Maryland baseball team scored seven runs in the seventh to push past Ohio State 14-10 at Bill Davis Stadium Sunday afternoon.
The Terrapins (35-17, 13-8) fell behind 8-3 after six innings but plated 11 runs in the final three frames. Junior Jose Cuas hit a two-out three-run homer in the seventh to put the Terps ahead for good.
“These guys work hard at it everyday,” head coach John Szefc said. “You hope that every athlete sees success from their labor and these guys certainly saw it this weekend. Our offense was tremendous this weekend.
After a scoreless opening inning, Ohio State grabbed the lead in the second. Troy Kuhn and Ronnie Dawson notched consecutive doubles before Aaron Gretz notched a sac fly to bring home Kuhn.
Pat Porter’s two-run homer gave the Buckeyes two more runs in the third before a single run in the fourth gave Ohio State a 4-0 lead.
Maryland cut into the deficit in the sixth. Junior LaMonte Wade doubled and moved to second on a throwing error. Freshman Kevin Smith then drove Wade home with a single up the middle. After sophomore Brandon Lowe singled to right, the duo stole second and third respectively to put two on with none down.
Consecutive groundouts from junior Kevin Martir and Cuas plated the final two runs of the inning to make it a 4-3 game.
Ohio State responded with four runs in the bottom half of the sixth. Kuhn’s two-run homer was the key hit of the frame as the Buckeyes took an 8-3 lead to the seventh.
In that inning, Maryland took the lead. Senior Tim Lewis stroked a one-out single to start the threat before moving to second on a Kengo Kawahara groundout. Wade then singled through the left side to send Lewis to third. Smith stepped up and singled to center, plating Lewis and sending Wade to third. Lowe followed with a single to center to drive in two runs. After Martir walked, Cuas gave the Terps the lead with a mammoth home run to left field, his tenth of the season. Junior Anthony Papio followed with a solo shot to right to give Maryland a 10-8 lead.
After Ohio State responded with a single run in the bottom half of the seventh, the Terps tallied two more in the eighth. Kawahara singled with one out before Smith walked with two down. Lowe then tripled to center to drive in both runners and make it a 12-9 game.
In the ninth, Kawahara gave the Terps a 14-9 lead with a two-out double that scored Lewis and Papio. Ohio State plated a run in the bottom half, but the junior Kevin Mooney closed out the game.
Mooney threw 3.2 innings to pick up the win. For the weekend, Maryland scored 39 runs on 50 hits. In its two victories, Maryland plated 20 runs with two outs.
