Maryland baseball freshman Ty Kaunas stood in the batter’s box in the fifth inning with opportunity on his shoulders. Trailing for three innings, the shortstop had two runners in scoring position, and looked to reverse a frustrating hold that Georgetown had on the Terps Tuesday afternoon.
With a 2-2 count, Kaunas swung and lined a ball into the left field corner. He cleared the bases with a double and kicked off a nine-run fifth inning that lifted the Terps past the Hoyas, 16-3, in their first game at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium this season.
While the box score shows an offensive explosion from Maryland’s offense, Tuesday’s win did come with early challenges against Georgetown freshman pitcher Charlie Hendrix.
Hendrix made his first career NCAA start in the 92nd edition of the local rivalry, and he delivered. The Georgia native held Maryland to four hits, one earned run, no walks and a strikeout in 3 ⅓ innings. His velocity didn’t blow any hitters away, but he pitched to contact — six flyouts and three ground balls.
Georgetown went up 2-1 after Terps’ lefty starter Landon Edwards gave up a 382-foot homer to Hoyas catcher Ashton Seymore.
Although it wasn’t a terrible outing, Edwards still exited after three innings on three hits, three punchouts and two earned runs.
Once the game reached the bullpen chess match, everything changed. The Hoyas tried with a mix of lefties and righties to keep Maryland’s offense away, but it didn’t work — the bullpen gave up nine earned runs and six walks.
Georgetown didn’t do themselves any favors defensively either, with four errors around the diamond.
One of the differences for Maryland down the stretch was gutsy pitching from Brayden Ryan. The right-hander tossed four scoreless innings, recorded three strikeouts and allowed just one hit and one walk in his first outing of the year.
It was a nice bounce-back for the redshirt junior, who posted a 7.34 ERA in 2025.
Having found stability on the mound, the bats began to heat up. Kaunas delivered his game-changing double off of lefty Marshall Whitmer, and the game busted open.
In the nine-run fifth inning, designated hitter Ryan Costello blasted a two-run shot for his team-leading second homer of the year. Then junior utility David Mendez hit a bases-loaded liner to left field that resulted in an error.
Tuesday demonstrated how good the Terps can be when they prevent slow starts. In each of their first four non-conference games, they have scored at least four runs. Against the Hoyas, they barreled 14 hits, had 12 RBIs and made no errors defensively. Although Georgetown won’t be the strongest test they’ll face before Big Ten play, the new look roster is building the foundational pieces, now having won the first three out of four games.
Under the Tuesday night flood lights — and debuting a new white pinstriped jersey — Maryland increased their all-time series lead over Georgetown to 66-26. The two teams will meet again on April 28. The Terps are now 4-1 in their last five home openers.
Three things to know
1. Terps resilience. The Terps battled back after trailing for the first half of the game against the Hoyas. Once getting past Hendrix, they took control and dominated.
2. Brayden Martin continues to produce. The junior outfielder continued his hot streak to begin the season, notching a 3 for 5 performance with a triple and two RBIs. Martin is now 7 for 16 in Maryland’s first four games.
3. Brayden Ryan’s milestone. Ryan recorded his 100th career strikeout against the Hoyas. The 6-foot-6 righty handled his relief appearance well in his first outing this season.