By Gillian Vesely

The Maryland Terrapins found themselves in too deep a hole to recover from Wednesday, falling 8-5 to the Patriots on the road.

George Mason pounced on Terps sophomore pitcher Hunter Parsons, knocking in two runs in the first inning then tacking on three more before Parsons left in the second. By the end of the second inning, the Patriots had built a 7-0 lead on nine hits.

Zach Jancarski and Marty Costes led the way for Maryland (21-11, 6-3 Big Ten) on the offensive end, going 4-for-5 and 3-for-3, respectively, from the plate to tally a combined seven of Maryland’s 11 hits.

Down 8-3 in the fifth, the Terps got some momentum from a Kevin Smith home run. Jancarski then doubled, eventually scoring on a Costes RBI single to right.

Despite singles from Jancarski and Costes in the seventh, the Terps weren’t able to put any more runs on the board, leaving five men on base and going scoreless through the last four innings.

Maryland pitchers Ryan Hill and Mike Rescigno combined to shut down George Mason through the last five and one-third innings, but the offense the Patriots generated in the first two innings was enough to assign Parsons the loss, moving him to 0-2 on the season.

The Terps will return home to open a three-game series with Penn State Friday at 6:30 p.m.