With the stands nearly empty and the Terrapin baseball team a half-inning away from one of its most embarrassing defeats of the season, the student in charge of music at Shipley Field did his best to change the game’s somber tone. As Terps approached the plate down by double-digit runs, the song “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” blasted from the speakers.
But after a game in which Terp pitchers had accounted for five hit batsmen, six wild pitches and19 hits allowed en route to a 20-6 throttling at the hands of George Mason, not even the upbeat melodies of Bobby McFerrin could cheer coach Erik Bakich up.
“It looks like we are just playing not to lose,” Bakich said. “Sometimes when you don’t get results, the guys start to get timid andtentative, and you could see that happening. I don’t think the guys have consciously packed it in, but we certainly don’t look good.”
The Terps (15-29) had hoped that pitcher Blair Delean, who carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning in his last outing against Old Dominion, would build on his recent success.
But after the junior walked Patriots’ center fielder Jeremy Haas to start the game, shortstop Ryan Soares gave George Mason the lead for good just two batters later with a two-run home run to left field.
The Terps got a run back in the bottom of the first inning when they executed a delayed double steal, but they didn’t record their first hit until the third inning. And by that time, George Mason (27-12) had added three more runs against Delean — and the scoring was just getting started.
The Patriots chased Delean from the game with seven runs in the first five innings, and over the final four frames, they tagged four Terp relievers for 13 runs as the game quickly got out of hand.
“Sometimes in order to build a winning culture, you have to win, and we just aren’t doing that right now,” Bakich said. “Anytime you lose by a couple of touchdowns it’s embarrassing. But after getting pummeled by Virginia all weekend, we still came out as flat as pancakes. It’s inexcusable.”
lemaire@umdbk.com
