Maryland baseball drops second game of series to Michigan State, 5-2

The Terps looked to get out of a two-out, runners on corner jam in the top of the third. 

Christian Williams grounded a routine ground ball to Chris Hacopian, but the third baseman couldn’t complete the throw to first. Two Spartans scored as a result of Hacopian’s error.

The frame was Michigan State’s second two-run inning. The Spartans never looked back, cruising to a 5-2 victory over Maryland baseball in College Park on Saturday to tie the weekend series.

Logan Koester, Maryland’s starting pitcher, entered the day as arguably the Terps’ best starter. He entered the game with a team-leading 2.79 ERA and 1.03 WHIP.

But just like Friday’s game, Michigan State (9-11, 1-1 Big Ten) attacked Maryland’s (17-6, 1-1 Big Ten) starter early and jumped out to an early lead.

The Spartans started the game exactly as they did in game one of the series with a lead-off double to left center field. A fielding error later in the first inning by Eddie Hacopian allowed Michigan State to take a 1-0 lead in the opening frame for the second game in a row. An RBI single from Ryan McKay later in the inning extended the advantage to 2-0.

Self-inflicted wounds continued to hurt the Terps in the third inning. Chris Hacopian had a chance to get Maryland out of a jam on a routine ground ball, but an errant throw to first base doubled the Spartans’ lead to 4-0. 

“There’s really no excuse for it,” coach Matt Swope said on the team’s errors. “We’ve had a good season thus far, but we have not played good defense.”

Koester settled into the game after Michigan State’s second two-run inning. He retired his next 11 batters and finished the game going 7.1 innings.

“He’s been consistent all year,” Swope said. “I think we let him down…which is kinda frustrating, but it’s huge because now we can bring everybody back in the bullpen tomorrow.”

Koester was relieved in the eighth inning by Andrew Johnson, and the Spartans immediately took advantage of Koester’s absence. The first batter Johnson saw grounded a single just past the glove of Chris Hacopian, scoring Jack Frank for the third time.

Unlike in the series opener, Maryland was unable to muster enough runs to overcome its early deficit. 

Michigan State’s starting pitcher Nick Power pitched last year against the Terps in the Big Ten Tournament and put in a great performance, going 7.1 innings in a losing effort.

Powers’ success continued against Maryland on Saturday, as the Terps’ offense consistently had trouble bringing runners across in scoring position. Powers entered the day with an excellent 2.65 ERA and 1.09 WHIP. He finished with five strikeouts over eight innings of work, doing most of his damage by inducing weak contact. 

Kevin Keister got the Terps on the board in the third inning with a sacrifice fly to right field, but Maryland couldn’t further cut into its deceit with runners on the corners. Sam Hojnar’s fourth home run of the season was the Terps’ lone other run as their offense struggled throughout the day.