Friday, March 28
College Park, Md.
5 p.m. CT
Northwestern
11-12, 4-3
6
at
5
Maryland
13-13, 2-5
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
R
H
E
Northwestern
0
2
0
0
0
0
1
0
2
1
6
13
0
Maryland
0
0
3
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
5
5
1
Cardiac 'Cats Top Terps in Extra-Inning Thriller
3/28/2025 10:56:00 PM | Baseball
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Northwestern won an extra inning-nailbiter 6-5 over Maryland in the series opener on Friday night at Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium in College Park.
INF Trent Liolios got Northwestern (11-12, 4-3 Big Ten) on the board first with his 10th homer of the season, a solo shot to center field in the top of the second inning. Later that same inning, UTL Tyler Ganus picked up his 12th RBI of the season with a chopped single over the head of Maryland 3B Chris Hacopian, scoring C Bennett Markinson and putting the 'Cats up 2-0.
Maryland (13-13, 2-5 Big Ten) took the lead in the bottom of the third with a three-run homer by UTL Hollis Porter to grab a 3-2 lead.
Northwestern responded in the top of the seventh when Liolios reached on an error, scoring OF Jackson Freeman and tying the game at three apiece.
A solo home run by OF Aden Hill put Maryland up 4-3. The Terrapins added another in the bottom of the eighth, scoring a run on a balk to go up 5-3.
In the top of the ninth, with one on and one out, Liolios hit his second home run of the game, a two-run bomb to knot the game at five. In the top of the 10th, Ganus went deep for his third hit of the game, a solo blast over the center-field wall to put Northwestern on top.
RHP Sam Hliboki worked 6.1 innings, allowing four runs on three hits, striking out six, hitting three batters, and walking one. LHP Blake MacMillan (3-1) earned the win, in 3.2 innings pitched, surrendering one run on two hits, a walk and a hit batsman, fanning three.
Game Notes
Game two of the weekend series is set for 1 p.m. CT on Saturday on B1G+. RHP Matthew Kouser will toe the rubber for the Wildcats, with RHP Logan Hastings on the mound for the Terrapins.
INF Trent Liolios got Northwestern (11-12, 4-3 Big Ten) on the board first with his 10th homer of the season, a solo shot to center field in the top of the second inning. Later that same inning, UTL Tyler Ganus picked up his 12th RBI of the season with a chopped single over the head of Maryland 3B Chris Hacopian, scoring C Bennett Markinson and putting the 'Cats up 2-0.
Maryland (13-13, 2-5 Big Ten) took the lead in the bottom of the third with a three-run homer by UTL Hollis Porter to grab a 3-2 lead.
Northwestern responded in the top of the seventh when Liolios reached on an error, scoring OF Jackson Freeman and tying the game at three apiece.
A solo home run by OF Aden Hill put Maryland up 4-3. The Terrapins added another in the bottom of the eighth, scoring a run on a balk to go up 5-3.
In the top of the ninth, with one on and one out, Liolios hit his second home run of the game, a two-run bomb to knot the game at five. In the top of the 10th, Ganus went deep for his third hit of the game, a solo blast over the center-field wall to put Northwestern on top.
RHP Sam Hliboki worked 6.1 innings, allowing four runs on three hits, striking out six, hitting three batters, and walking one. LHP Blake MacMillan (3-1) earned the win, in 3.2 innings pitched, surrendering one run on two hits, a walk and a hit batsman, fanning three.
Game Notes
- Northwestern is 4-3 in Big Ten play for the first time since 2022.
- The Wildcats recorded 10+ hits for the eighth time this season and fifth time in the last seven games.
- Northwestern recorded 13 hits for the third time in seven Big Ten games.
- 9+ different 'Cats recorded a hit for the second time this season (March 9 at The Citadel).
- INF Trent Liolios recorded his third multi-homer game of the season with two long balls.
- Liolios' seven conference home runs are most in the Big Ten, in only seven conference games.
- Liolios' 11 home runs this season rank second in the Big Ten.
- UTL Tyler Ganus matched his career-high with three hits, including the go-ahead solo home run in the 10th inning.
Game two of the weekend series is set for 1 p.m. CT on Saturday on B1G+. RHP Matthew Kouser will toe the rubber for the Wildcats, with RHP Logan Hastings on the mound for the Terrapins.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: MacMillan, Blake (3-1)
L: Andrew Johnson (1-2)
Batting:
2B: Freeman, Jackson 1 ; Counsell, Jack 1
HR: Liolios, Trent 2 ; Ganus, Tyler 1
RBI: Liolios, Trent 3 ; Ganus, Tyler 2
SH: Ganus, Tyler 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Freeman, Jackson 2 ; Liolios, Trent 2 ; Markinson, Bennett 1 ; Ganus, Tyler 1
Batting:
HR: Hollis Porter 1 ; Aden Hill 1
RBI: Hollis Porter 3 ; Aden Hill 1
SH: Colin Gibbs 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Eddie Hacopian 1 ; Chris Hacopian 2 ; Hollis Porter 1 ; Aden Hill 1
SB: Aden Hill 1
HBP: Chris Hacopian 1 ; Alex Calarco 1 ; Aden Hill 1 ; Colin Gibbs 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
3
RBI
2
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
2
H
2
RBI
3
AB
6
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ BaseballUTL
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RHP
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RHP
/ BaseballINF
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LHP
/ Baseball
C/1B
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