COLLEGE PARK, MD --
Maxwell Costes crushed his team-best 11th home run of the season to break a 4-4 tie in the sixth inning to catapult No. 23 Maryland to an 8-5 victory over George Mason on a wet Tuesday afternoon at Bob 'Turtle' Smith Stadium. The Terps, rated No. 15 in the RPI, moved to 23-6 overall heading into a weekend series at Minnesota.
Chris Alleyne went 3-for-3 at the plate with two runs scored, stole a career-high three bases and made a stunning leaping catch in to end the seventh inning and thwart a George Mason rally. He was on base all four times in the game, as he also walked.
Nick Lorusso was on-base all five of his plate appearances, going 2-for-2 with three walks. He drove in two runs. He has now reached base in 29 consecutive games, equaling the longest streak by a Terp since Brandon Lowe in 2015. He also has a 15-game hit streak, four shy of the school record of 19 by Garry Maddox (April 2-27, 1996).
Costes went 1-for-3 including that two-run blast. Costes now has 35 career home runs, second all-time at Maryland, behind Paul Schrager with 43 from 1984-87.
On the mound,
Logan Ott started for the Terps and threw four hitless, scoreless innings before allowing four runs in the fifth inning as the Patriots (9-18 overall) took a short-lived 4-3 lead. Freshman
Ryan Van Buren came on in relief in the sixth inning and threw two hitless innings to earn his second collegiate win.
Sean Heine closed the game with his third save of the season.
Breaking Down The Action
• After two scoreless innings, the Terps broke into the scoring column as
Troy Schreffler Jr., drove in Alleyne to make it 1-0 after three.
• The Terps took a 3-0 lead in the fourth as Lorusso's RBI single brought home
Riley Langerman. Then
Luke Shliger scored on a wild pitch.
• With two outs, the Patriots took that 4-3 lead as Alex Knapp had an RBI single, Tyler Cotten scored on a passed ball and lead-off hitter Brett Stallings drove in a pair of runs on a single to right.
• Maryland tied the game in the sixth as
Matt Shaw's sac fly scored Alleyne, making it 4-4. Costes took a 1-1 pitch and deposited it over Maryland's Varsity Team House in left field to make it 6-4.
• Mason crept back to within one at 6-5 on a Carson Pracht homer in the eighth.
• Lorusso's singled through the right side brought home Alleyne in the eighth for a 7-5 edge.
Kevin Keister drew a bases-loaded walk to score Lorusso, making it 8-5.
Numbers To Know
3: Alleyne stole three bases, equaling his career-high set vs. Iowa (4/23/21). The three was also the most by any Terp in a game this season.
4: Langerman has hits in each of his last four starts behind the plate.
6: Schreffler now has a six-game hit streak with a single.
8: Alleyne had his eighth multi-hit game of the season, including three three-hit games.
9: Shaw now has a nine-hit streak,
15: Lorusso extended his hit streak to 15 games with his single in the fourth.
Up Next
• Maryland heads to Minnesota for a three-game series this weekend. The set opens at Friday at 5 p.m. ET with Saturday's game at 3 p.m. and Sunday's game at 2 p.m Sunday's game airs live on Big Ten Network. The Maryland Baseball Network will carry all three games.
• Wednesday's originally-scheduled game for April 6 against the Navy Midshipmen has been postponed due to weather. The two teams will now play on Tuesday, April 26, at 6:30 p.m. at Bob 'Turtle' Smith Stadium.
