Maryland baseball struggles offensively in 5-3 loss to Rutgers

Photo courtesy of Kevin Snyder/Maryland Athletics.

Maryland baseball trailed Rutgers by three games for the last spot in the Big Ten tournament coming into Friday’s matchup. With just six conference games left in the season, starting this series with a win was crucial for both teams.

The Terps (23-27, 6-19) wouldn’t get it done, falling to the Scarlet Knights (23-26, 10-15) 5-3 in a pitcher’s duel.

Cristofer Cespedes got his second straight Friday night start for Maryland. His first came last week against Michigan, where he pitched six innings without giving up an earned run.

The Terps defense had an early blunder after a throw from third bounced out of first baseman Ryan Costello’s glove – what should have been the third out of the inning turned into a runner on first.

Rutgers catcher Matt Chatelle then proceeded to launch a ball over the left-center wall for a two run homer. The next pitch felt like deja vu – junior infielder Ryan Jaros sent another ball over the wall to a similar spot. 

The error bug bit Maryland repeatedly throughout the night. A missed pickoff from Cespedes sent a runner to third in the fifth inning, and a single from outfielder Jack Sweeney put the Scarlet Knights’ fourth run on the board.

An overthrown ball to second from catcher Devin Russel again allowed a runner to take third, and a sacrifice fly built the Rutgers lead to 5-2.

Outside of the errors, Cespedes threw an impressive seven innings, giving up just one earned run. He had never thrown more than 80 pitches in a game before – he registered 107 on Friday. The towering pitcher added seven strikeouts to his statline with just one walk. 

Zack Konstantinovsky took the mound to open the game for Rutgers. The right-hander made his thirteenth start on Friday, going just shy of seven innings pitched and giving up just two earned runs.

He was able to make plenty of Terps whiff, leaving the game with nine strikeouts. The inside changeup was especially impactful for the sophomore.

Maryland got on the board in the fourth inning. Back-to-back hits put a runner on third, and junior mainstay Brayden Martin sent one home with a sacrifice fly. Outside of that, the Terps rarely got runners on base – only getting multiple runners twice.

One of those came off the bat of freshman outfielder Bud Coombs. The two sport athlete sent a ball over the wall for his sixth home run of the year, cutting the lead to 4-2 – the closest the game would get after the first inning.

Sophomore Jordan Crosland had a strong night at the plate. The hard hitting outfielder went three for four with a double – he reached base three times but never crossed home. 

Maryland will look to even up the series against the Scarlet Knights on Saturday. First pitch from the Garden State is scheduled for 6 p.m.