By Connor Bell
In the second game the series, the Bryant Bulldogs evened the matchup as they defeated Maryland 2-0.
The Terps and Bulldogs started off this game scoreless in the first two innings as neither team could get the bats going. Then in the top of the third inning, Bryant’s Dan Cellucci rattled off a pop fly that dropped just far enough away from Terrapins left fielder Marty Costes for a double. A single by Bryant’s Cole Fabio later in that inning drove Costes home for a 1-0 Bulldogs lead.
From then on starting pitcher Taylor Bloom gave up one more hit and threw a wild pitch that advanced the runners on base but Bloom finished out the inning from there not giving up any more runs.
However the story of the game was Maryland not finishing at the plate. They left a total of nine runners on base for the game; three in the fifth, two in the seventh, two in the eighth and one in the ninth. The trend would be the Terps would either draw a walk from the pitcher or start off with a lead off single and then whatever pitcher Bryant had in at the time would just battle back and force the Terps into strikeouts, groundouts, or double plays.
This trend continued for the whole entire game as the Terps’ defense kept the Bulldogs at bay with Taylor Bloom pitching a complete game on 110 pitches. Bryant then rallied for one more run in the top of the ninth inning, giving the Terps three outs to score two or more runs.
Unfortunately, Maryland ended the game the same way it had been playing it, as Anthony Papio drew a walk when he lead-off for the Terps, then the subsequent batters struck out then grounded out to end the game.
The Bulldogs’ victory gave them their first win over Maryland baseball in program history.
As for the Terps, their player of the game, if there was one, had to be redshirt Freshman Andrew Bechold who had two hits in the game, but also had a total of 10 defensive plays in the field, even snagging hard to reach ground balls right off the bat and slinging them to first effortlessly.
At the beginning of the season it looked like the Terps pitching staff needed to step up in order for the Terps to win games, now this game made it look like the offense is the thing that needs fixing.
At some point in the season, these two facets of the Terps’ game must gel together if the Terps are to make the College World Series for a third time in a row.
