Maryland baseball’s offense had been on a heater during its four-game win streak. 

It scored 68 runs across five games and bailed out some poor pitching performances. 

That all changed on Friday, as the Terps didn’t score until the ninth inning in their 5-2 loss to Troy. 

Maryland let opportunities pass them by the whole game. It recorded 7 hits — the same as the Trojans — but failed to drive runners in. The Terps left 10 players on base and went just 1-of-6 with runners in scoring position. 

“We’ve struggled this year with two-out hitting and in those situations we’ve gotta be tougher,” Swope said.

The five-game win streak they came in with was the longest since head coach Matt Swope took over in 2024.

Meeting Troy for the first time in program history, the Terps offense looked to build on this hot stretch. 

But that didn’t happen. The Terps went scoreless through eight innings despite having the same number of hits. Several innings ended with a double play, taking the life out of the team. 

The Terps hit into the Trojans’ shift several times, especially with lefty hitters in the box.

“We have beat the shift plenty of time this year, we’ve just gotta be tougher” Swope said. “If we get a couple of hits with the bases loaded, we are having a different conversation.”

Starter Lance Williams generated a career high of 10 strikeouts through six strong innings. After a rough start in his last outing, giving up seven earned runs,  Williams has bounced back nicely for the Terps.  

“Lance was dominating,” Swope said.  “We’ve gotta do a better job behind him. I really loved his start. It was a great bounce back from last week.” 

However, Williams gave up four runs, three of which were earned, with the crushing blow coming on Troy’s three-run homer in the third inning. 

Cristofer Cespedes and Joseph Fredericks followed in relief.  They combined for two innings in which Fredericks allowed another run as Troy’s lead extended to five. 

Troy starter Tommy Edgan pitched five strong innings, striking out seven and walking only one batter. Cooper Ellingworth came in relief and pitched three big innings to maintain the Trojans’ lead. 

A sensational diving catch by Paul Jones II in the eighth prevented two more runs from scoring, keeping the Terps’ deficit at five runs heading into the ninth. Jordan Crosland and Brayden Martin drew walks, leading to a David Mendez RBI double, but it was too little too late. 

Mendez was stranded at second base, following a theme of the game that came back to bite the Terps, resulting in their fifth loss of the season.