No. 15 Oregon rallied in the ninth to avoid an upset in the series opener at Maryland.
Drew Smith hit the game-tying RBI single and later scored on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Cooney in a 5-4 Ducks win over the Terrapins Saturday afternoon at Bob Smith Stadium in College Park.
Smith went 2 for 3 with two RBIs and two runs scored for Oregon (23-9, 11-5 Big Ten).
Dominic Hellman hit an RBI double and later scored on a ground out by Jacob Walsh to give UO a 2-0 lead in the third.
Maryland (15-20, 3-10) got a run back in the bottom of the inning on a double by Eddie Hacopian.
Smith homered in the fourth to make it 3-1.
Aden Hill hit a solo home run with two outs in the sixth and a hit batter ended the day for Grayson Grinsell, who allowed two runs on thee hits, six walks and a hit batter with five strikeouts over 5.2 innings.
Hacopian tied it in the seventh with a solo home run off Kellan Knox (one run on one hit in 0.2 IP). Jacob Orr put Maryland in front in the eighth with a homer off Santiago Garcia (one run on one hit with two strikeouts, 1.1 IP).
Anson Aroz drew a leadoff walk and stole second. Two batters later Smith drove him in. Smith later stole third, which proved critical on Cooney’s sac fly to left.
Seth Mattox struck out one in 1.1 perfect innings of winning relief.
The teams will play a doubleheader Sunday beginning at 9 a.m.