Throughout an offensive hot stretch for Maryland baseball, pitching has been at the back of everyone’s minds.
The Terps have had a recent offensive explosion, putting up double-digit runs in each of the last three games.
The Terps pitching, though, has allowed 31 runs over their last four games.
Despite starting with a three-run first inning, the offense could not sustain the same firepower throughout the contest. The fragility of Maryland’s pitching came back to bite them in a 12-4 loss to Michigan State at
Maryland got an RBI double from Ryan Costello, scoring Jordan Crosland to give him his 23rd extra base hit of the year, then freshman Bud Coombs hit a single to drive in Costello and Brayden Martin.
David Mendez followed them by driving his seventh RBI of the series on a one-out single to score Costello.
But the Terps left the bases loaded and that would end up being their best scoring opportunity for the rest of the night. After the third inning, Maryland had four runs and struggled to get on base after those four runs were scored.
Michigan State starter Aiden Donovan went six strong with seven strikeouts and threw 110 pitches to stifle the Terp offense.
“Not a good enough effort offensively, defensively, on the mound and we just gotta try and bounce back and win the series,” head coach Matt Swope said.
Brayden Ryan got the start and went four innings and allowed four runs, a solo shot and a back-breaking three-run shot with two down in the bottom of the third.
Despite the pitching struggles, four big errors cost the Terps dearly, as they gave up three unearned runs in the game. A throwing error from Ryan himself led to a run, followed by a two-run blast and Brayden Martin, one of the sure-handed Terp defenders, made an untimely mistake.
“The starter is good, you know that’s their guy and we caught some barrels but that guy’s good, that’s what made it so tough with the errors,” Swope said.
In the seventh, David Mendez looked to tie the score at seven, but his swing just sailed foul, and he grounded out the next pitch.
Andrew Koshy came in relief for the Terps and pitched three big innings, only allowing one run while also picking up two strikeouts. Koshy looked tired as he threw 82 pitches in relief and gave up four runs, all with two outs in the bottom of the eighth.
“This is kind of where we are at. I thought he did a good job besides that last inning. We are just tryna get through the weekend,” Swope said.
With the decimation of their pitching staff and lineup by injuries, the Terps will need more consistent play from their offense to qualify for the Big Ten tournament.
