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University of Maryland Athletics

Jason Savacool pitches vs. MSU 3/7/21
7
Winner Maryland UMD 32-8
4
Illinois ILL 20-17
Winner
Maryland UMD
32-8
7
Final
4
Illinois ILL
20-17
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Maryland UMD 0 1 3 0 1 0 0 1 1 7 10 1
Illinois ILL 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 10 2

W: Savacool, Jason (7-2) L: Gowens,Riley (4-2) S: Belgrave, Nigel (2)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Savacool Leads No. 21 Terps To DH Sweep At Illinois, 7-4

CHAMPAIGN, IL – Starting pitcher Jason Savacool willed the No. 21 Maryland baseball team to a win in game two of Saturday's doubleheader at Illinois with a 7-4 victory. The Terps (32-8, 9-3 Big Ten) have now won all four of their Big Ten series to start the year. With the win, Maryland has moved into second place in the conference.

Savacool had a gutsy pitching performance. After allowing the first five batters of the game to reach base and Illinois scoring three runs in the first inning, he rallied to go on pitch eight innings striking out nine batters. Savacool threw 106 pitches as he regained the Big Ten season lead in strikeouts with 85. He is now 7-2, tying teammate Ryan Ramsey for most wins in the Big Ten with seven. 

Nigel Belgrave set down the Illini 1-2-3 in the bottom of the ninth for his second-career save. 

Behind Savacool, the defense turned in three clutch double plays with Matt Shaw and Maxwell Costes playing a role in all three and Kevin Keister as part of two of them. In the first inning Shaw's turn curtailed the Illinois' offense after a three-run inning. Then in the fifth inning the twin-killing from Shaw to Keister to Costes ended an Illini threat after they loaded the bases with no outs. In the seventh inning, the Terps turned the third double play (Keister-Shaw-Costes) to end away another Illinois rally. 

Costes blasted his team-best 12th home run of the season as he went 2-for-5 with three RBIs. Troy Schreffler Jr., also went 2-for-5 and drove in two runs. Both Chris Alleyne and Nick Lorusso went 2-for-3 with scored two runs. 

Matt Shaw drove in two runs with a sacrifice fly and the game-winning RBI on an RBI single in the fifth, putting the Terps up 5-4 on the way to the win. . 

After winning the opening game of the series on Friday night, Illinois fell to 20-17 overall and 11-4 in the Big Ten. 

Breaking Down The Action
  • The Terps fell behind 3-0 in the first inning but answered with a home run by Costes.
  • Maryland scored the next four runs as Shaw hit a sacrifice fly, Troy Schreffler Jr. tripled home Lorusso, and Costes doubled, scoring Schreffler Jr.
  • The teams would trade runs as Illinois tied it in the third, but Shaw untied it in the fifth with an RBI single, making it 5-4. 
  • A key moment of the game came with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fifth, as Savacool induced a groundball to get the double play, getting the Terps out of the jam.
  • In the bottom of the sixth inning, Troy Schreffler Jr., gunned out a runner trying to advance to second base for another key saved run allowed for the Terps.  
  • Maryland escaped another Illinois rally with another double play in the bottom of the seventh inning to keep the game at 5-4.  
  • Bobby Zmarzlak scored on a Ian Petrutz sacrifice fly in the eighth after Zmarzlak reached on an error and then advanced to third on a throwing error by the pitcher on an attempted pick-off throw. That gave the Terps a 6-4 lead.
  •  Schreffler Jr. had a single in the top of the ninth to score Lorusso to make it 7-4. 

Costes Crushing It
  • Maxwell Costes now has 36 career home runs, good for second-most all-time in program history. 
  • Costes now trails only Paul Schager's 43 which was hit between 1984-87.

Notable Numbers
  • 3: The Terps turned three key double plays in the victory. 
  • 4: The Terps have won all four Big Ten series they have played this season. 
  • 4: With 106 pitches thrown, Savacool surpassed 100 pitches for the fourth time this season. 
  • 7: Savacool threw at least seven innings for the ninth time in 10 games this season. 
  • 10: Costes had his 10th multi-hit game of the season. 
  • 13: Alleyne had his 13th multi-hit game of the season. 
  • 15: Schreffler Jr. had his 15th multi-hit game of the season. 
  • 17: Lorusso had his 17th multi-hit game of the season. 
  • 32: With 32 wins this season, Maryland has tied for the sixth-most wins in a season in program history. The Terps went 32-24 in 2012.

Up Next
  • The Terps return to College Park for a Tuesday night matchup against the Navy Midshipmen at 6:30 pm.
  • The game can be seen on B1G+ and heard on the Maryland Baseball Network
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