In a season where Maryland baseball’s bullpen has been anything but consistent.

But on Wednesday, it got the job done.

The Terps allowed zero runs over the final six innings, helping them cruise to a 7-3 victory over Delaware. 

Last Tuesday, the Terps sneaked out a wild 15-14 win against Delaware, in which the Terps’ bullpen blew multiple leads. It was the total opposite on Wednesday – they shut down the Blue Hens’ bats, allowing only three runs. 

“I thought we did a better job of just getting out of some of those tough innings,” head coach Matt Swope said. “We got some big strikeouts and made some big plays when we needed it.”

The Terps offense struck early again, but in a more unorthodox way than usual. Four batters reached without a hit in the first inning, and two runs came around to score. 

Landon Edwards got the start for the Terps, and despite a rough outing last time against the Blue Hens, he pitched two scoreless innings.

“When he’s in the zone, he’s tough to hit,” Swope said. “Always good to just get scoreless innings.”

Brayden Ryan came in relief, and despite his reliability so far this season, he struggled. He gave up a three-run triple to Jeremy Wolf, surrendering the Terps’ early lead. 

Delaware starter Elias Conway struggled early, so they turned to Jonah Richardson, who pitched two solid innings before a rough fourth inning. 

Maryland’s bats came back to life, with David Mendez and the red-hot Ryan Costello each driving in runs on singles. 

Meanwhile, both bullpens started to pile up shutdown innings.

For the Terps, it was a multi-headed attack, with Andrew Koshy and Ryan Bailey each pitching two scoreless innings. 

Nick Bilotto came in for the Blue Hens and pitched three and two-thirds innings. He struck out four Terps. Bilotto’s first two innings were scoreless before Ryan Costello stepped to the plate in the seventh. He launched his seventh home run of the season – he is in the top-five in the country.

Costello was a bright spot for the Terps on a day when the offense struggled. He went 2-for-2 with two walks, an hit-by-pitch and two RBIs. 

However, that was the only run the Terps managed off of Bilotto. Brady Blum followed Bilotto and ran into some trouble in the ninth. 

A Rylen Stockton double helped load the bases for the Terps, and they added on some key insurance. That was followed by Jordan Crosland hitting a sacrifice fly, adding an insurance run.

Swope turned to Jayson Torres in the eighth, and he threw a scoreless inning. 

It all came down to Cristofer Cespedes in the ninth, an inning where he has struggled this season. 

Despite that, Cespedes delivered a scoreless inning, closing out the Maryland victory. 

“Sometimes in the midweek, a win’s a win,” said Swope. “It’s gritty and we’re gonna take it.”