Maryland baseball headed to Morgantown, West Virginia, as winners of seven of its last eight. But that momentum came to a screeching halt against No. 22 West Virginia.
The Terps’ pitching struggled mightily against the Mountaineers. As a staff, the six Terps’ pitchers allowed 11 walks and 12 hits in 47 at-bats.
Without any hits to make up for the rocky pitching performance, West Virginia climbed past Maryland, 10-3.
Nic Morlang’s first midweek appearance of the season highlighted those struggles. His
start only lasted 1.2 innings after giving up four runs alongside six walks.
Landon Edwards and Brayden Ryan followed him. Both gave up two runs each, allowing a combined six hits.
“We just can’t do that in college baseball,” head coach Matt Swope said. “If we’re giving out freebies, we’re going to get eaten alive … we’ve got to attack better as a unit early on in the game.”
The “freebies” Maryland gave out began to add up.
West Virginia’s Gavin Kelly ripped a two-run single to center field past second baseman David Mendez in the bottom of the third, widening the lead even further.
Mountaineers Brock Wills and Armani Guzman kept the small ball going in the fourth, recording a centerfield-bound RBI single each to bring West Virginia’s lead to 10 runs..
Andrew Koshy finished up the fifth inning with two strikeouts in three batters. He was the only Maryland reliever to not allow a hit. James Gladden replaced him in the sixth and continued the progress, posting four strikeouts across two scoreless innings—the most he’s ever pitched in one game.
Maryland’s bats fared much better, especially in terms of batters’ box discipline. The Mountaineers only struck out seven of the 24 batters they faced in the first six innings and issued five walks.
Stand-out relief pitcher Cristofer Cespedes took over in the bottom of the eighth, tossing two strikeouts in a scoreless eighth inning.
Down 10 runs in the ninth inning, Franklin Pichardo, Jr. took the batters box for only the third time this season. On a 3-1 count, the freshman sent a bomb 415 feet deep over the left-field fence off pitcher Weston Smith. Pichardo’s first career home run eliminated West Virginia’s chance at a shut out.
West Virginia began to crack from there. JD Costanzo replaced Smith, and loaded the bases courtesy of an error, single and walk, before Brayden Martin walked to bring Jordan Crosland home from third base.
Costanzo made an early mound exit immediately after, but his replacement, Bryson Thacker, didn’t fare any better. Following one strike, Thacker did the same, walking Kaunas and cutting the lead to seven runs.
But a 5-4 fielder’s choice play ended the inning, ending the Terps’ blowout loss in their first ranked game of the year.
Three things to know
1. Final bout before Big Ten play. Tuesday’s game marks the last game before Maryland starts playing Big Ten teams, starting with a weekend series with Purdue at the Bob.
2. Off day for the Big Ten Freshman of the Week. Tuesday was just the fourth game this season that redshirt freshman Ryan Costello, Maryland’s leader in home runs (9) and RBIs (27), was held without a hit.
3. Changing series record. The Terps lost for the sixth straight time against the Mountaineers, now sitting 3-7 in the last 10 games against . After Tuesday’s loss, West Virginia now leads the all-time series, 12-11.
