Photo by Ian Cox/Maryland Terrapins
Down by three runs and a runner on first with two outs, Maryland baseball needed a hit to prolong the game. But Jacob Orr flighted out to center field, securing Deleware’s first win against Maryland since 2022.
Maryland (3-4) nearly overcame an eigh-run deficit but fell short of a comeback to Deleware (2-5) and dropped its season opener at Bob Smith Stadium 13-10 on Tuesday.
Freshman pitcher Jake Yeager was on the mound for the Terps in his first collegiate start. On the other end, redshirt freshman Ryan McLaughlin had the start for the Blue Hens.
Maryland’s defense struggled, leaving the offense with too much to overcome.
“We haven’t put one game together where we played all three stages,” head coach Matt Swope said.
The Blue Hens attacked Yeager early with a home run in both the first and second innings.
But the freshman settled down after his early struggles, ending with six strikeouts through over four innings of work.
Maryland was able to replicate Delaware’s early runs with a three-run second inning. Senior catcher Alex Calarco continued his hot streak with a home run to lead off the inning, and sophomore Brayden Martin topped the inning with a two-run base hit.
The game stayed tied three-to-three until the top of the fifth inning when Yeager was taken out after walking the first two batters he faced. But once again, the Terps relief efforts fell short.
Graduate student Devin Milberg relieved Yeager but failed to record an out, surrendering an RBI double and a walk against the only two batters he faced. The Terps went to senior Ryan Van Buren, who gave up three more runs in the inning and put Maryland in a 7-3 deficit.
After an empty side from the Terps, the top of the sixth inning was just as harsh for the Terps. Van Buren stayed on the mound and let up two home runs. Delaware senior Andrew Amato started with a three-run home run to center field, and Aaron Graeber followed it with a solo home run.
One of the brighter spots on the mound for Maryland was freshman Logan Hastings. He came into the game for the Terps in the seventh inning and pitched a crucial bounce-back game. Hastings struggled in Sunday’s game against Western Carolina, surrendering four hits through 0.2 innings, but struck out his first four batters on Tuesday. Hastings finished the game with six strikeouts while allowing just two hits through 2.2 innings.
When asked whether or not he was worried about the pitching unit after the poor performance both this weekend and today, Swope said, “No, This weekend it was probably more of the errors and [the defense] and today was more giving up the runs [they were] separate cases in those scenarios.”
He also made it clear that they had room to improve once players got healthier and had more playing time.
The Terps attempted to rally in the eighth inning as junior Aden Hill launched a two-run home run over the right-center field wall. Later in the inning, sophomore Chris Hacopian belted a bases-clearing double into the left-field gap, cutting the deficit to 11-10.
But the Blue Hens bounced back in the ninth inning with two runs of their own after getting the bases loaded with a double and a pair of walks to extend the lead to 13-10.
The Terps were renowned for improbable comebacks last year but went quickly in the ninth inning, securing Deleware’s first Power Five conference win since 2022.
When speaking about the comeback effort in today’s and Sunday’s game, coach Swope said, “I mean I’m proud of the way they battled today and Sunday but again, it doesn’t really matter if we’re not playing the other two phases.”
The Terps look to bounce back on a trip to Winston-Salem, N.C., where they play four games this weekend. The first game is scheduled for Friday against Princeton on Friday at noon.
