WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — We were back at The Couch, barely 11 hours since we last left it, as West Virginia used some late-innings magic to eliminate Maryland 8-5.
The Mountaineers (36-25) will stick around to face Wake Forest at 5 p.m., while Maryland (38-23) goes home.
What an afternoon for senior reliever Jackson Sigman (6-4), who kept the game manageable until the rally caps started working. Ten of WVU’s 12 hits came during the final three innings.
Here’s an inning-by-inning recap:
FINAL: WVU 8, Maryland 5
Bottom 9th: Drama surfaced in the Terps’ last gasp, beginning with Nick Dunn’s solo homer. Two more runners reached with one out before Sigman fanned AJ Lee and Brandon Gum to close out a 4 2/3-inning relief stint. (Terps: 1 run, 2 hits, 2 left)
Top 9th: West Virginia tacked on some insurance after Cramer reached on a one-out double and Davis blooped a singled to left, benefiting from Dan Maynard’s late break. When pinch-runner Brandon White broke up a potential double play on Zarbnisky’s grounder, Cramer scored. (WVU: 1 run, 2 hits, 1 left)
End 8th: WVU 7, Maryland 4
Bottom 8th: Siggy keeps carving up Maryland. Another 1-2-3 inning gives him 3 2/3 scoreless today.
(Terps: No runs, no hits, none left)
Top 8th: A big-time rally continues for the Mountaineers, beginning with Hill’s leadoff single against 6-foot-8 Ryan Selmer. And don’t overlook the fact Hill was running on Cole Austin’s grounder, which prevented a tailor-made double play. Cramer followed with a game-tying double to left-center and Selmer intentionally walked Davis. After Zarbnisky singled through the right side to make it 5-4, the Terps went to reliever Ryan Hill, who yielded Galusky’s RBI single to left. INcame Maryland’s third reliever of the inning, Jamal Wade, who issued a five-pitch bases-juiced walk to Gray.
(WVU: 4 runs, 4 hits, 3 left)
End 7th: Maryland 4, WVU 3
Bottom 7th: Sigman allowed a single but nothing more. (Terps: No runs, 1 hit, 1 left)
Top 7th: The Mountaineers scored twice — courtesy of Galusky’s grounder and Kevin Brophy’s single — and had the tying run 90 feet away with one out when a failed squeeze curbed the momentum. Ivan Gonzalez couldn’t bunt a low-and-away fastball, leaving pinch-runner TJ Lake dead on the wire. (Coincidentally, Lake only entered as a pinch-runner only after Brophy failed to score from first on a double to deep right-center by Gray.)
(WVU: 2 runs, 4 hits, 1 left)
End 6th: Maryland 4, WVU 1
Bottom 6th: Three up, three down including two strikeouts for Sigman. The senior side-armer is keeping WVU within arm’s reach.
(Terps: No runs, no hits, none left)
Top 6th: After Hill’s one-out double was misplayed by Terps right fielder Marty Costes, a wild pitch gave WVU a runner at third. Cole Austin knocked in the Mountaineers’ first run with a chopper to third.
(WVU: 1 run, 1 hit, none left)
End 5th: Maryland 4, WVU 0
Bottom 5th: The inning began with Hill crashing into the right-field fence to catch Zach Jancarski’s fly ball. That didn’t dissuade the Terps, who knocked out Strowd with a singly by Lee and Gum’s two-run homer to left. Jackson Sigman cleaned up for the final two outs. Strowd’s pitching line: 4 1/3 innings, four earned runs, five hits, four strikeouts, three walks on 94 pitches.
(Terps: 2 runs, 2 hits, 1 left)
Top 5th: Murphy kept dealing and has retired all six WVU batters he faced — four on strikeouts. He caught Brophy looking with an 89-mph fastball on the inside corner.
(WVU: No runs, no hits, none left)
End 4th: Maryland 2, WVU 0
Bottom 4th: What looked to be an easy inning turned troublesome when Galusky booted Dunn’s two-out grounder. Strowd followed with a walk before inducing a grounder to first. Strowd’s pitch count climbed to 79, but there’s plenty of life left, considering he threw 115 against Oklahoma State in the Big 12 tournament.
(Terps: No runs, no hits, 2 left)
Top 4th: The good news for WVU was it got Blohm out of the game. The bad news was reliever John Murphy manned up with three straight Ks to squash a bases-loaded threat. Cramer, Davis and Zarbnisky failed to put a ball in play as a huge opportunity evaporated. … So much for the promising start to the inning, whereby Blohm essentially fell off a cliff, loading the bases on two walks and a Hill single — throwing 11 balls and only two strikes in the process.
(WVU: No runs, 1 hit, 3 left)
End 3rd: Maryland 2, WVU 0
Bottom 3rd: Strowd bought himself some trouble by walking No. 9 hitter Justin Morris (hitting a robust .218). It came back to roost when Brandon Gum crushed a two-out RBI double on a 1-2 pitch.
(Terps: 1 run, 1 hit, 1 left)
Top 3rd: That’s seven straight set down by Blohm, who hot his fourth strikeout and has only allowed one ball hit in the air.
(WVU: No runs, no hits, none left)
End 2nd: Maryland 1, WVU 0
Bottom 2nd: Marty Costes jacked a full-count fastball way-way-way over the left-center wall for his 13th homer. (West Virginia had not trailed in its first 17 1/3 innings here before Wake Forest’s walkoff hit last night.) Strowd recovered to strike out two batters, around a single by Nick Dunn, and he’s at 37 pitches through two innings.
(Terps: 1 run, 2 hits, none left)
Top 2nd: Nothing doing for WVU yet, though Kyle Davis hit a sharp grounder to shortstop. Zarbnisky went down swinging, giving Blohm three Ks through two innings.
(WVU: No runs, no hits, none left)
End 1st: WVU 0, Maryland 0
Bottom 1st: Hey, look, another Mountaineers pitcher plunked a batter. That has happened like 398 times this weekend. Strowd got out of the inning with no damage thanks to Kyle Gray glove-flipping to Jimmy Galusky to start a 4-6-3 double play.
(Terps: No runs, no hits, none left)
Top 1st: Quiet opening for the Mountaineers aside from Darius Hill’s two-out. Blohm fanned Gray and Austin.
(WVU: No runs, no hits, 1 left)
Pregame notes
— Kade Strowd (1-3, 5.49) becomes freshman starter No. 3 for the Mountaineers in this regional. His ratio of 31 strikeouts to 25 walks has been problematic.
— Maryland turns to Tyler Blohm (8-6, 3.62), who has 67 strikeouts and 32 walks.
— The teams split previous games: The Terps winning 7-6 on April 11 and WVU dominating Friday’s regional opener 9-1 behind six homers.