CHAMPAIGN, IL – The No. 21 Maryland baseball clobbered five home runs to defeat the Illinois Fighting Illini 13-9 in 10 innings on Saturday afternoon in game one of the split doubleheader.
Luke Shliger hit a go-ahead two-run double in the 10th inning to give Maryland the lead for good and
Chris Alleyne cranked a two-run home run just pitches later. The Terps (31-8, 8-3 Big Ten) now have 31 wins on the season, exceeding their entire win total from last season.
Shliger,
Troy Schreffler Jr.,
Bobby Zmarzlak, and
Kevin Keister all hit home runs in the game along with Alleyne's extra innings homer for Maryland to go along. Alleyne added a two-run single with the bases loaded in the sixth inning.
Ryan Ramsey started on the mound going six innings with four strikeouts and three earned runs.
Breaking Down The Action
- Shliger's home run opened the scoring but was answered by a leadoff homer by Danny Doligale.
- Schreffler Jr.'s home run briefly gave Maryland the lead once more but Illinois plated two in the third to take its first lead of the game.
- Ian Petrutz's RBI single in the fourth inning scored Costes, tying the game at three.
- Zmarzlak's homer gave the Terps a 4-3 lead, and Alleyne plated two more on an RBI single with the bases loaded.
- After Illinois tied the game on a three-run homer in the seventh, Keister's homer in the top half of the eighth gave Maryland all the runs it needed with Matt Shaw also scoring Alleyne on a sacrifice fly in the ninth.
- Illinois scored three in the bottom of the ninth, aided by a two-run error with two outs.
- Maryland responded in kind, scoring four in the 10th thanks to Shliger and Alleyne.
Notable Numbers
- 2: The Terps hit two consecutive leadoff home runs with Shliger and Schreffler Jr.'s homers in the first and second.
- 3: Petrutz scored three times on the day, bringing his season total to eight.
- 5: Petrutz reached base all five times, walking twice and collecting three clutch hits, including one in the 10th inning.
- 6: Schreffler Jr. hit his sixth home run of the season with his no-doubter in the second inning.
- 11: Alleyne's home run adds to career-best, tying him for the team-lead with Maxwell Costes.
- 40: Alleyne had four RBIs on the day, giving him 40 on the year, surpassing Nick Lorusso's 38 for the team-lead.
Up Next
- The Terps take on the Fighting Illini later today on Big Ten Network with first pitch set for 8:00 EST.
- The game can also be heard on the Maryland Baseball Network.