Illinois made it close in the eighth inning on Sunday when left fielder Vytas Valincius hit a three-run double to cut Maryland baseball’s lead to just one.
But then Sam Hojnar stepped to the plate and revived the Terps’ lead with a three-run moonshot to dead-center field. The homer solidified an 11-7 victory for the Terps and handed Illinois its first Big Ten series loss of the season.
“u200bu200bI knew I was gonna have a chance to drive in some runs [and] give us some space with two outs,” Hojnar said. “I was just looking for a fastball over the plate … so I kind of knew a fastball was coming and he gave me a kind of elevated fastball, but I was looking forward to stay put on it to get it out.