Maryland baseball trailed the Indiana Hoosiers by two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
With bases loaded and one out to go, Devin Russell took the batter’s box. The redshirt junior had gone 0-for-3 on the day, with a groundout and two strikeouts.
Russell wasn’t nervous, though. On a 3-1 count, a heater came flying toward him. Russell got his pitch, and he didn’t miss his opportunity.
“I think everybody dreams about that moment as a kid,” Russell said. “I finally, finally got it.” The ball flew
over the center field wall, seemingly vanishing to the sky as Russell threw his bat in the air. The walk-off grand slam gave the Terps an 8-6 victory in the rubber match, stamping their first conference series win of the year.
Jordan Crosland opened the hitting for the Terps, grounding a single in left field to advance to first in the bottom of the opening inning. The bases quickly loaded after Ty Kaunas walked on a full count and Paul Jones II wore a pitch on his back.
With two outs to go, Rylen Stockton took the batter’s box for the Terps, knocking a two-run RBI single to left center to take the lead.
Indiana’s Will Moore walked to first base in the top of the third inning. Ayden Crouse blasted a double down the left field line just barely over third baseman Colin Gibbs’s stretched arm. Moore sped home, barely beating Crosland’s throw from left field to put Indiana on the board.
Starting pitcher Brayden Ryan’s tenure ended after three innings on the bump. The redshirt junior logged one walk and allowed one hit and one run without posting a single strikeout.
The Hoosiers began to round the bases in the top of the fourth as Moore stepped up to the plate once again with runners on first and second. Caleb Koskie leapt over a rolling left-bound RBI single from Moore, eventually coming home to tie the game.
Indiana’s batting staff began to ignite.
In the top of the fifth with a 1-0 count, Crouse hit his first bomb of the year over the center field fence to take the lead over the Terps. Just two batters later, with a runner on first, Indiana’s Jake Hanley blasted a two-run home run over the wall in left-center to pad the advantage.
Andrew Koshy took over for first reliever Ryan Bailey in the top of the fifth, but his appearance only lasted four batters. The junior allowed every batter he saw to log at least a base hit without any outs on the board before turning the mound over to freshman Austin Weiss.
Though Indiana blazed through the middle innings, the Terps slowly heated up, beginning with a left field-bound blast from David Mendez for his fifth home run of the year. Just two pitches later, freshman Nate Hawton-Henley reached scoring position with a double to right center.
In the top of the seventh inning, Weiss dropped his glove at the edge of the pitcher’s mound and held his elbow. The freshman Rockville native continued to pace, appearing frustrated as pitching coach Jimmy Jackson and athletic trainers came to his aid.
Weiss spoke with them for just over a minute, putting his hands on his head and continuing to pace. Eventually, he walked slowly back to the dugout, head hung low and tugging on his shirt. In the dugout, Weiss threw his glove at the ground.
Lance Williams took over for Weiss for the rest of the game. The transfer from East Carolina walked two batters in a row in the top of the eighth. Just after, he let a wild pitch fly, allowing the runners on first and second to shift into scoring position.
But Williams posted two strikeouts, which combined with a ground out to shut down the inning without a run.
“I think [Williams] is more comfortable coming out and ripping it,” head coach Matt Swope said. “In the end, [he] did a really good job.”
The Hoosiers’ blaze began to dim, coming to a complete close in the top of the ninth. Williams opened the inning with a full-count strikeout, and a 6-4 fielder’s choice play from Kaunas filled the second out. Hawton-Henley snagged a fly out to stop Indiana from another run frenzy, giving the Terps their turn.
The bases loaded almost instantly. Stockton singled to center field while Mendez and Hawton-Henley walked to take their places.
After the Terps left 11 players on base for the game, Russell finally brought everyone all the way home, banking his second walk-off home run of the weekend to lead Maryland to its first conference series of the year.
“I just thought we deserved that win,” Swope said. “That moment was meant for us.”
Three things to know
1. History remade. Sunday marked Maryland’s first Big Ten series win since 2025 against Minnesota, and its first Sunday victory since March 15 against Purdue. The Terps haven’t won a series against Indiana since April 2023 in Bloomington.
2. RBI beast. Russell now has more RBIs (13) than appearances (10) this season. The redshirt junior’s .306 batting average is now the second best among Terps who have played 75% of games.
3. Weiss dealt before injury. Even in his shortened performance, Weiss logged two strikeouts and pitched 20 strikes in just 28 pitches. His ERA now ranks among the lowest in non-starters at 3.00.
