Three Terrapins baseball pitchers combined to throw a three-hit shutout last night as the Terps took care of yet another nonconference foe at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium, taking a 3-0 decision over James Madison.

“It’s just the strength of our team,” coach Erik Bakich said. “It’s pitching, defense and timely hitting. The pitching and the defense are the reasons we’ve had the success that we’ve had, and our offense hasn’t been great, but it’s found a way to get some timely hits.”

Right-handers Michael Boyden and Brady Kirkpatrick each pitched four innings. Boyden allowed three hits and Kirkpatrick held the Dukes (11-25-1) hitless.

“Me and [pitching] coach [Sean] Kenny talked about it before the game,” Kirkpatrick said. “We’re really not going to worry about facing the hitters. It’s more about facing myself.”

When second baseman Kyle Convissar led off the game with a single to right field, it looked as though the Terps would take advantage of a James Madison pitching staff that entered the evening with a 6.79 ERA.

Dukes starter Josh Futter escaped the first inning without further damage, though, and retired the Terps (25-14) in order in the second and third.

In the fourth, the Terps loaded the bases for shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez, who plated two runs with a two-out double to left field.

“I was just battling,” Rodriguez said. “I had the confidence that I knew I was going to get a pitch, and I got one. Luckily, it fell through and was able to score the runs.”

The Terps added one more the next inning against reliever Patrick Arnold, who hit center fielder Korey Wacker to lead off the inning. Wacker, who also earned the save, would advance to second on a bunt, steal third and score on a sacrifice fly.

With just three runs on the scoreboard against a poor James Madison pitching staff and the Terps headed up the road to Towson this afternoon, Bakich acknowledges the offense needs to see some improvement.

But not in its mechanics or anything physical. The solution to its recent struggles, Bakich said, is much simpler than that.

“You just got to will yourself to get that run in and find a way and put the barrel on the ball,” Bakich said. “You just take all the mechanics, throw them out the window and take the little end of the bat and knock the crap out of the ball with the big end.”

dgallen@umdbk.com