Maryland baseball drops series finale against Georgia Southern, 7-3

After battling back in the prior inning to cut the deficit to two, Maryland baseball looked to get through the seventh inning cleanly. 

But a monster blast to start the frame by Sam Blancato ensured the Terps wouldn’t do so. Any momentum Matt Swope’s team had was eliminated.

Maryland defeated Georgia Southern in each of the first two games of the schools’ weekend series, securing the series victory on Saturday. But the Terps couldn’t clinch a series sweep Sunday afternoon, dropping the series finale to the Eagles, 7-3. 

“The first two days, we got two wins [which] was good,” Swope said. “I wasn’t really pleased with the effort today trying to get the sweep.”

Like the prior two matchups, the Terps (2-1) got off to a sluggish start at the plate as Georgia Southern (1-2) starter Ty Fisher retired each of Maryland’s first six batters. Then Charlie Glennon got the bats going for the Terps.

Glennen doubled to right-center with two outs in the top of the third in his first at-bat as a Terp. Brayden Martin then drove in Glennon on the ensuing at-bat with a single into right, giving Maryland an early 1-0 lead.

Martin’s RBI knock was the lone blemish against Fisher as he dominated the Terps. Fisher went six innings, allowing just one run on four hits, striking out eight Terps on 101 pitches.

“[Fisher] did a pretty good job keeping us off-balance,” Swope said. “We couldn’t get much going on him early on.”

Maryland bats finally struck again when Fisher was relieved in the top of the seventh. Jacob Orr trimmed the Terps’ deficit with a run-scoring single to left, extending his RBI streak to three games to start the season. A passed ball later in the inning brought home Eddie Hacopian, but that was the only other run Maryland could score despite having the bases loaded.

The Terps’ offense attempted to rally late, with a pair of batters reaching base in the ninth, but they were retired without even one run scoring to seal the loss.

Meade Johnson allowed a couple of walks but escaped his first two innings as a Terp without any damage against him. But his struggles to find the strike zone caught up to him in the bottom of the third.

A walk started the inning for the Eagles, and back-to-back hits from Josh Tate and Blancato tied the game at one. More inaccuracy brought home Tate on a wild pitch, and Jarrett Brown grew Georgia Southern’s lead to 3-1 on a sacrifice fly to right.

Johnson’s command issues continued in the fourth inning as a one-out Jarrett Jenkins walk allowed a Luke Odden double to score Jenkins from first. Odden then scored in the following at-bat as Tate singled to right-center on a pitch right down the heart of the plate. Alex Walsh finally relieved Johnson later in the inning after Johnson gave up his fifth walk of the game.

Walsh gave Maryland a steady two innings on the mound to settle its pitching down. But immediately after the Terps’ offense struck for its pair of runs in the top of the seventh, Walsh allowed a back-breaking no-doubt home run to right field to Blancato to put the Eagles back up by three. Georgia Southern added another run with a double to deep right field by JD Kaiser, extending its lead to the final score of 7-3.

Maryland dropped the final game of its weekend series but still secured a series win in Swope’s first series as the Terps’ new head coach. They’ll look to return to the win column in their home opener Tuesday against Mount St. Mary’s.