No. 18 Maryland baseball falls to No. 4 Ole Miss, 5-1

After Maryland tied the game at one in the bottom of the fourth, Ole Miss looked to retake the lead.

With Peyton Chatagnier on first with two outs, Ethan Groff stepped to the plate. 

With a 1-1 count, the senior center fielder crushed a two-run homer to the deep center of U.S. Bank Stadium to retake the lead, 3-1. 

The Rebels added two insurance runs in the eighth inning as No. 18 Maryland baseball fell to No. 4 Ole Miss, 5-1.

“We’ve been on the wrong side of things at the end more times than we’ve been on the right side so far this year,” coach Rob Vaughn said.

The singular run was the Terps’ worst scoring output of the season, as they entered the game averaging 7.6 per game.

The Terps now drop to 4-5 on the season while the Rebels improved to 8-2. 

The Terps faced the Rebels last weekend in a three game series. After taking the first game, the Terps dropped the last two, which included a 18-8 mercy rule ending in Sunday’s finale. 

The pitchers started comfortably, not allowing a single runner to reach base in the first inning. Junior right-handers Jason Savacool and Jack Dougherty both started in this one after starting last Friday’s matchup between the schools. 

Savacool pitched in the lone Maryland win in last weekend’s series, throwing seven scoreless innings, striking out nine in the process.

But he didn’t have a shutout this time around, as the Rebels got the scoring started in the second. On the second at bat of the inning, junior left fielder Kemp Alderman delivered a solo home run — his fifth of the year — to deep left to put the Rebels on the board first. 

The Terps’ first time in scoring position came in the third. 

After junior second baseman Kevin Keister struck out in his first at-bat, back-to-back walks put Terps on first and second. Maryland was unable to capitalize on the opportunity however, as Dougherty struck out junior catcher Luke Shliger and junior shortstop Matt Shaw flew out to end the inning. 

Dougherty had six strikeouts by the end of the third as he was on pace for a much better start than his first against the Terps. In the first meeting between the two, he struck out three batters in four innings, allowing six hits and three earned runs.

“That’s what Friday night baseball looks like against a good team,” Vaughn said. “Dougherty was unbelievable tonight.”

The Rebels got into scoring position quickly to begin the fourth inning but couldn’t convert. 

A throwing error by senior third baseman Nick Lorusso allowed Alderman to reach base and advance to second. A Savacool wild pitch then gave way for the Rebels’ cleanup hitter to advance to third with no outs. But Maryland responded with three-straight outs to close the frame, including the final via a Savacool strikeout. 

While the Rebels didn’t take advantage of the scoring opportunity they had with a runner in scoring position in the top of the fourth, the Terps did in the bottom half of the inning.

Lorusso led off with a single, and advanced to third after back-to-back groundouts. On the next at bat, fifth year right fielder Matt Woods drove a single up the middle, bringing Lorusso home to tie the game at one. 

The lead didn’t last long for the Terps, however, as Groff’s home run made it 3-1 Rebels lead. 

After throwing 96 pitches, Savacool was pulled for junior left-hander Tommy Kane to begin the sixth. Kane held the Rebels to one hit and one walk the next three innings, striking out a batter in the process.

Dougherty got pulled after 96 pitches as well, as senior right-hander Matt Parenteau started the seventh for Ole Miss. He could not complete the inning, however, getting yanked after a single by sophomore center fielder Elijah Lambros advanced senior left fielder Bobby Zmarzlak to third.

In his first at-bat, sophomore right-hander Mason Nichols hit Shliger, loading the bases for the Terps with one out. Nichols followed with a strikeout of Shaw in six pitches, and closed the inning the next at-bat as Lorusso flew out and the Terps left the bases loaded.

“We don’t cash in, we don’t get anything there which is what hurt there against a good team,” Vaughn said.

The Terps were unable to bring it any closer in the eighth, and Ole Miss extended its lead in the ninth on a Groff two-RBI bloop single into center, extending the lead to 5-1. 

A one-two-three bottom of the ninth ended it, as Maryland fell by four in its opening game of the Cambria College Classic. 

The Terps will look to bounce back tomorrow when they take on No. 7 Vanderbilt.

“We weren’t good enough today, but it has zero bearing on tomorrow,” Vaughn said. “It’s gonna be a hell of a team we got to see tomorrow.”