Photo courtesy of Kevin Snyder/Maryland Athletics.
Maryland baseball’s game on Sunday afternoon was over from the second inning.
After giving up nine runs in the second inning, the Terps (21-23, 6-15 B1G) did nothing offensively, dropping the weekend series to Michigan State (16-25, 10-14 B1G) with a 13-1 loss.
Maryland needed three pitchers to get through the first two innings. Nic Morlang, the starter, didn’t last a full inning, leaving the game after giving up three runs. Jake Yeager was next – he picked up the final two outs of the first inning and began the second before giving up six runs. Ryan Bailey finished the second inning, but not before giving up a three-run home run.
The bottom half of the Spartans lineup did the majority of the damage to the Terps. Of the 12 RBIs Michigan State hit, nine of them came from the last four hitters in the lineup. Adam Broski, who hit three RBIs from the nine slot, came into the game with a .186 batting average.
For all the runs Maryland’s pitching staff gave up, the Spartans struggled for non-longball extra base hits. Michigan State did not hit a double or triple after Isaac Sturgis’s lone two-bagger. However, the pitching staff gave up three home runs, one of which was a grand slam.
Ty Kaunas prevented the Spartans from shutting out the Terps with a solo shot in the fifth inning – his fifth career home run. Kaunas was the only Maryland player with multiple hits – two – and was one of only three Terps to record a hit.
Maryland’s batters – despite the low score – were making consistent contact throughout the game. Terps hitters only struck out five times – about half as many as they did in their 18-10 victory at the beginning of the series. However, poor quality of contact combined with a singular walk drawn all game mitigated the lack of strikeouts.
The Terps will next travel to the DMV for a midweek game against Georgetown.
