No. 19 Maryland lost its last midweek game of the season to Northeastern, 9-2. 

The Dirty Terps came into the game following a series win against Nebraska over the weekend. Nick Lorusso made history in the rubber match on Sunday, breaking Maryland’s single season RBI record that was previously held by Derek Hacopian. Lorusso won a couple of awards to go along with the record being named the National Player of the Week and winning a Big Ten Medal of Honor.

The Terps final midweek matchup of the season was against the Northeastern Huskies. The Huskies are ranked two spots above Maryland in the RPI rankings, with Northeastern at 35 and Maryland at 37. The Huskies entered the game after losing their weekend series against UNC Wilmington, dropping the last two games of the series. 

The pitching matchup in the game featured a pair of right handers. Kenny Lippman got the start for Maryland and Jake Gigliotti took the bump for Northeastern. Lippman came into this outing after a strong three inning appearance against Nebraska. Lippman allowed one earned run in that outing, striking out three Nebraska hitters and earning his sixth win of the season. Gigliotti came into the game with a (7-0) record and an ERA under four in addition to a WHIP under 1.2. 

The Husky offense blitzed Lippman in the first inning scoring two runs on two hits within the first two batters. The game started with a bloop single into right field by Mike Sirota followed by a big fly by Tyler MacGregor that brought both players around to score. Sirota did the run scoring in the top of the third hitting his own two run homer to right field, doubling the Husky lead. 

“That top of that order is just dangerous and you saw like those guys will punch [strikeout] but when you make a mistake the ball goes over the fence,” said head coach Rob Vaughn. 

Lippman was able to battle out of the third inning but his day ended there. Lippman was replaced by Ryan Van Buren in the top of the fourth. Lippman allowed four runs to score on two home runs, striking out a season high seven batters. 

“We thought Kenny’s slider would really really match up against those guys and shoot Kenny I think punched seven guys tonight,” said Vaughn. “When he missed, they didn’t miss.”

Northeastern’s offense was boosted by a strong start by Gigliotti. The righty allowed two total base runners through the first three innings by forcing the Maryland lineup to hit the ball into the ground producing four groundouts. Gigliotti’s outing ended after the third inning. He ended the game allowing one hit and one walk while striking out two Maryland batters. 

The Terps were able to push across their first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth after the Huskies added a fifth run in the top half of the inning. Petrutz drove in Shaw from second with an RBI single up the middle, increasing his hitting streak to 18 games and putting Maryland on the scoreboard. 

“I thought his [Petrutz] at bats were really really good tonight,” said Vaughn. “When you start seeing him hit the ball back through the middle of the yard you know he’s in a good spot.”

That run was quickly matched in the top of the fifth as Ryan Van Buren ran into trouble. MacGregor started the fifth inning with his second home run of the game, this one a solo shot to right field. The Huskies registered two hits within the next three hitters and with a steal by Cam Maldonado they had runners in scoring position. 

The next batter, Jack Doyle, hit a weak grounder to Lorusso at third. The ball bounced off the glove of the third baseman allowing the run to score and all the runners to be safe. Northeastern added one more run due to a wild pitch by Nigel Belgrave (who replaced Van Buren) increasing their lead, 8-1. 

Maryland added a second run to the ledger in the bottom of the fifth, but that would be the last run they would score. The Huskies held the Maryland offense scoreless in the final four frames, using five pitchers to accomplish the feat. 

“The way they pitch they really attack the zone. Just mixing pitches there at the bottom of the zone and they were just really good tonight,” said Vaughn. “We just couldn’t string it together.”

Tyler MacGregor blasted his third home run of the game in the top of the ninth to finish the scoring for Northeastern, ending the game, 9-2. 

The Terps will look for a bounce-back performance when they take on Minnesota in the weekend series.