Maryland baseball fared much better in the batter’s box on Saturday than on Friday. David Mendez opened the scoring for the Terps with a home run in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game, 1-1.
The Terps’ lead disintegrated in the top of the second inning after the Boilermakers banked a sacrifice fly to tie the game, then an RBI to take the lead. An error allowed Purdue to keep scoring, and two two-run swings afterwards almost made regaining the lead impossible.
Maryland was down by six by the
time the third inning began.
Bud Coombs rejoined the Terps on the field after spending roughly a week away due to lingering injuries. His sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third followed an RBI walk and a RBI single by Jordan Crossland.
Brayden Ryan was the bright spot of Maryland’s three-pitcher lineup, taking over for Smith in the bottom of the fourth inning. The redshirt junior pitched five straight scoreless innings with four strikeouts and no walks.
The game remained 8-4 for three and a half innings. Neither team could make significant motion on offense until the bottom of the seventh inning, when Bud Coombs came to the plate yet again.
Coombs blasted a double to right center to bring home Rylen Stockton, cutting Purdue’s lead to three. The freshman hit home plate just one batter later due to a wild pitch.
Purdue’s seven-run lead had dwindled to just two in four innings.
But Maryland’s explosive streak seemed to end there. The Terps only made one other base hit in the eighth inning, and a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth cost the Terps their first conference series.
