Maryland baseball only trailed No. 9 Virginia by one run after the top of the eighth inning. Twice during the game, the Terps led the Cavaliers.
But Maryland’s gameplay was spoiled by faulty pitching and superb hitting from the Cavaliers in the bottom of the inning. Virginia managed to bank nine runs and trigger the run rule to end the game early, 16-6.
Maryland held its own for the first half of the game. After holding Virginia scoreless through the first inning and only allowing one run in the second,
freshman shortstop Ty Kaunas singled to center field for his 17th career RBI in the bottom of the third inning.
Ryan Costello doubled to left field to bring Brayden Martin home, and Kaunas made it to home plate on a passed ball. All of a sudden, Maryland was up by two runs as the teams changed sides.
Virginia did bite back though, banking three RBIs of their own to retake the lead. Nevertheless, the Terps kept it close, trading runs with the Cavaliers in the fourth inning and escaping the fifth by allowing only one hit.
In the top of the sixth inning, center fielder Aden Hill logged his first hit of the day — a double down the left field line. His hit opened the door for Paul Jones II to come around the horn and tie the game.
Brayden Martin reached first base on a fielding error at shortstop, earning an RBI as Sirois made it home. To sweeten the deal, pitcher Ryan Bailey and Maryland’s defense cut the bottom of the inning short with three straight outs and no hits.
With only a third of the game to go, Maryland was ahead once again.
After having allowed 12 hits on the afternoon, the top of the seventh inning ended with two strikeouts from Virginia’s Matt Augustin and a groundout. In the bottom of the inning, the Cavaliers posted back-to-back RBIs to retake the lead, but still only held a one-run advantage.
Maryland couldn’t squeeze another hit in for the rest of the game. The top of the eighth inning matched the seventh — scoreless and hitless with two straight strikeouts.
Then the entire game fell apart in the bottom of the eighth.
Logan Hastings walked Virginia’s AJ Garcia, allowing his teammate Jake Witherspoon to score.
Just two pitches later, Joe Tiroly smashed a double through left field, emptying the reloaded bases to increase Virginia’s lead to five.
Maryland head coach Matt Swope was disappointed with Hastings’ performance on the mound.
“Yeah, it’s frustrating,” Swope said. “That’s not characteristic of who he is.”
Maryland dipped into the bullpen staff for the fourth time, bringing out Landon Edwards on emergency relief. But instead of registering strikeouts, Edwards allowed another RBI and walked two more batters to put everyone in scoring position for the third time of the inning.
Edwards walked yet another batter in four straight pitches, letting the Cavaliers score once again. Then, a wild pitch rotated the baserunners once more.
Only two innings beforehand, the Terps led by one. With one out left of the eighth inning, the Terps were down by eight.
To wrap up the game, Virginia’s Eric Becker logged his third base hit of the day for a two-run RBI double, triggering the run-rule to force the game to end.
“It’s really sad, the way it ends,” head coach Matt Swope said. “I thought we played really well. We outplayed them until that eighth inning.”
Three things to know
1. Losing streak continues. Maryland has played one full game of baseball in its past four matchups due to losing three of them in shortened games. The Terps currently have the longest losing streak in the Big Ten with five.
2. Mound misery. Every pitcher in Maryland’s five-pitcher line up allowed at least two runs and three hits. The first Terp out of the bullpen, Brayden Ryan, allowed the most hits with seven. Hastings led the pack in runs, allowing five.
3. Still hitting. Every player on the Terps logged at least one base hit except for Rylen Stockton. After his hit today, Brayden Martin still leads the Terps with 35 hits for the season, tying him for eighth in the conference.
