Maryland baseball watches Indiana pull away in 15-4 defeat

The Terps gave up the game’s final 10 runs.

Maryland baseball was entirely outplayed by Indiana in the first game of this weekend’s series, as the Terps dropped Friday night’s contest, 15-4.

Pitching continued to be a problem for the Terps. Starter Kenny Lippman gave up six earned runs, having difficulty finding the zone and working out of difficult counts. In six innings, Lippman walked three batters and hit another two, also giving up eight hits in his 106-pitch outing.

Maryland was able to control Indiana’s top hitters, with Carter Mathison and Devin Taylor both going 0-for-6, but Hoosiers elsewhere in the order stepped up.

“I would’ve paid anything for that,” Swope said of keeping Mathison and Taylor silent.

It wasn’t just Lippman that struggled, though, as the wheels fell off for the Terps shortly after he exited the game. Evan Smith allowed one run in the seventh inning, but Logan Ott was rocked in his third appearance of the season, giving up eight runs in his one inning of work. Duke McCarron, who replaced Ott for the ninth, also gave up four runs.

Eddie Hacopian got Maryland on the board with a first-inning solo home run off the scoreboard in left field, but Indiana tied it right back up in the top of the second when Joey Brenczewski hit an RBI infield single.

Indiana would put up a four spot in the third, featuring RBI doubles from Nick Mitchell and Jake Stadler, a run-scoring single from Joey Brenczewski and a Lippman wild pitch.

Maryland didn’t go away immediately, bringing itself within one with a three-run fourth inning. The Hoosiers more than answered, though, with Brenczewski hitting another RBI double in the fifth inning and Stadler hitting an RBI single in the seventh. Then, the floodgates opened.

Three things to know

1. Lippman struggled again. After struggling in his past few starts, Lippman could not refind his mojo on Friday. He battled through six innings, but his status as Maryland’s Friday night starter is in jeopardy.

“I really didn’t think it came down in the bullpen. Kenny’s got to be better, simple as that,” Swope said. “Friday night guy, we got to have a better start out of him.”

2. Fireworks in College Park. There were fireworks on Maryland’s campus at nearby McKeldin Mall during the seventh inning, but the Terps couldn’t provide any of their own Friday night.

3. Indiana kept adding on. In the fourth inning, the Terps brought themselves within one, but Indiana scored the next 10 runs. It was a brutal showing from Maryland’s bullpen.

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