Maryland baseball played two midweek games this week, one at Georgetown and one at UMBC. It was certainly a less-than-ideal middle of the week for the Terps. Here’s a look at how they fared:
Tuesday: Georgetown 13, Maryland 12
The Terps started hot in the first inning scoring four runs including a two-run home run hit by Chris Hacopian. Georgetown responded in the bottom of the first scoring two, and by the end of the 2nd, the Terps led 6-4. Evan Smith pitched three scoreless innings of relief for Maryland and picked up seven strikeouts, as the game went to the sixth still at 6-4. In the top of the sixth, Sam Hojnar blasted a three-run bomb to give the Terps a 9-4 lead. But, Maryland’s bullpen imploded in the bottom of the sixth allowing five runs to the Hoyas which tied the game, and then Georgetown took the lead in the bottom of the seventh on a three-run shot by Christian Ficca, and added another one as well. Maryland responded in the eighth when Sam Hojnar hit his second three-run homer of the game, making the score 13-12, but that was the closest Maryland would get.
Wednesday: UMBC 4, Maryland 2
A week after narrowly beating UMBC at home, the Terps fell short against the Retrievers, to finish off a midweek that featured two brutal losses. The game was scoreless for the first three innings, until the Terps were able to get on the board first in the fourth with RBI singles from Sam Hojnar and Kevin Keister. UMBC would take the lead in the bottom of the fifth via a home run from Luke Trythall and an RBI double from Matthew Best. Maryland’s best chance to tie the game came in the eighth inning when they had runners on the corners with one out, but could not score. The Retrievers scored one more in the eighth, and Maryland went quietly in the ninth.
Takeaways
RPI Fallers
As a result of Maryland’s tough midweek, the Terps dropped ten spots to 40 in the RPI rankings. Maryland now has two quad-four losses and with the schedule much weaker than a lot of other teams, the Terps’ tourney chances certainly took a bit of a hit.
Another Streak Snapped
Maryland’s loss to UMBC is the first time the Retrievers have beaten the Terps since 2005. It snapped an 18-game winning streak for Maryland. Meade Johnson gave the Terps a chance to win with a solid pitching performance, but Maryland was only able to score 2 runs on a bullpen day for UMBC.
Up next:
The Terps will try and get right this weekend in Evanston against Northwestern against a Wildcat team that has yet to win a Big Ten game. All three games can be seen on Big Ten Plus. All Maryland Baseball games can be listened to for free on the Maryland Baseball Network.
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