By Megan Smedley
Maryland looked to win the series against High Point on Sunday afternoon after splitting the first two games. Despite a strong performance from Brian Shaffer, the Terps were unable to give him the run support he needed, losing 4-3. Head coach John Szefc was not too happy with this loss.
“You gotta deserve to win,” Szefc said. “You can’t throw eight 0’s on the board like we did, so we kinda made our own bed.”
Shaffer came out firing with a strong 1-2-3 first inning. The Arctic winds kept shifting directions throughout the game, sometimes keeping balls in the park while letting others fly. High Point centerfielder Josh Greene lucked out with the wind and ripped a two-run homerun over the right field wall, just out of the reach of Madison Nickens. High Point jumped out to an early 2-0 lead.
Maryland had a chance to grab some runs in the third inning following leadoff singles from Anthony Papio and Andrew Bechtold. But they were unable to capitalize, and quickly got three straight outs. Kevin Smith and Bechtold provided strong defense behind Shaffer who retired nine straight following the Greene homerun.
The Terps bats came alive in the fourth inning. Nick Cieri took a leadoff walk before Marty Costes ripped a double down the left field line. With runners in scoring position, Kevin Biondic hit a double to right-center field, scoring both runners. This extended Biondic’s hitting streak to nine games. But the Terps weren’t done there. Papio stepped to plate and drilled a single to left, scoring Biondic and putting the Terps up 3-2 after four innings. Papio had been struggling at the plate this season, coming into this game hitting below .200.
“I’m feeling a little bit more confortable at the plate,” said Papio. “I made some minor adjustments. I’m letting the ball travel a little more. My pitch recognition has been a little bit better. So just making little adjustments and it’s helping out a bit.”
Nickens appeared to have a leadoff double to start the fifth inning but the umpires called it a catch by Greene. Many thought Greene trapped the ball including Maryland Head Coach John Szefc.
“We didn’t think he caught it,” Szefc said. “A guy can’t catch the ball if his glove’s pointed down at the ground.”
Szefc argued but the umpires did not overturn the call.
Shaffer ran into trouble in the seventh inning after allowing two leadoff hits. Andrew Zente hit a dribbler up to Shaffer who fired it in to Morris. Morris quickly tagged Carson Jackson to prevent the run from scoring. The next batter, Fopeano knocked a double off the right field wall, driving in two runs. High Point regained the lead 4-3 in the seventh inning.
Maryland bats were unable to connect, going down 1-2-3 in three of the final four innings. Brian Shaffer went for 8.1 innings allowing four runs on six hits and striking out three.
“It wasn’t my best,” said Shaffer. “Some of my pitches, my slider, my changeup wasn’t all there. I basically depended on my fastball the whole time. And you just can’t do that. You can’t have just one pitch working for ya.”
He falls to 3-2 on the season and his ERA climbed to 2.74. Maryland is now 14-14 on the season.
“I think some of our more experienced players are going to have to be more productive down the stretch,” Szefc said. “If we’re going to be a post season team, that’s what’s going to have to happen.”
The Terps once again have a five-game week coming up. On Tuesday, they’ll travel to play Liberty before returning home against James Madison on Wednesday. They close out the week with their Big 10 Home opener against Ohio State.
