Maryland baseball left fielder Madison Nickens attempted a safety squeeze bunt in seventh inning of the Terps’ 8-6 loss to Illinois on Sunday afternoon. Because he often sends bunts down the third base line to surprise opposing third basemen playing too deep, he held prior experience with the play.

But against Fighting Illini right-hander Ryan Thompson, Nickens was unable to lay the bunt down, instead popping it up to the pitcher with runners on first and third and no outs. Center fielder Zach Jancarski’s ensuing ground ball enabled the Terps to cut Illinois’ three-run lead to two, but the lack of further production highlighted Maryland’s offensive struggles entering the ninth inning.

Still, led by second baseman Nick Dunn’s two-out, two-RBI double and designated hitter Will Watson’s two-run, opposite field home run in the ninth, No. 23 Maryland tied the game at six. But the inability to capitalize on earlier opportunities proved costly, as Fighting Illini catcher Mark Skonieczny’s walk-off home run against left-hander Andrew Miller in the bottom half propelled Illinois to a series win.

“There really wasn’t much working at all,” coach John Szefc, whose team is now 8-12 on the road, said. “Really bad day in general. We struggle big time on the road. I don’t know what it is. At some point we’ll have to figure out the road or else the road will kill us.”

After scoring twice in their Saturday loss to the Fighting Illini, the Terps had difficulty generating offense against right-hander Matthew James, who entered his Sunday start with a 5.35 ERA and .257 batting average against.

Though Maryland’s leadoff hitter reached base in each of the first four innings, Watson’s first home run of the day, a solo shot in the sixth, marked the only time the Terps capitalized on one of James’ mistakes.

Third baseman AJ Lee and catcher Dan Maynard struck out consecutively in the second with a runner on third and one out. Lee and Maynard had a similar chance to produce in the fourth, when the Terps put runners on second and third with one out. Again, neither hitter drove in a run.

“When you look at it as a whole, we took good swings all weekend,” Watson said. “The bounce didn’t bounce our way a lot of the times. We hit a lot of balls hard that happened to be right at guys. That’s something we have to address moving forward. We left a lot of guys on base in big time situations. We played better than what the score dictated.”

Maryland’s inability to score was magnified by the Fighting Illini’s production against right-hander Taylor Bloom.

Illinois second baseman Michael Massey’s home run to right-center field in the second inning began a poor day on the hill for Bloom, who lasted just 4.1 innings. He allowed four runs and five hits to an Illinois team that entered play 11th in the Big Ten standings.

The Fighting Illini continued their success at the plate against right-hander Ryan Hill, who pitched around a two-out double in the sixth but allowed a one out, two-run home run to second baseman Pat McInerney in the seventh.

Right-hander Ryan Selmer didn’t allow a run over the next 1.2 innings to set up Maryland’s late rally. But the Illini responded in the bottom of the ninth with the walk-off blast to claim the victory.

After dropping two of three against the Fighting Illini, the Terps ended their Big Ten road slate having won just one away conference series, a sweep against Rutgers.

“We need to be consistent, put together good at-bats,” Dunn said. “As many as we can in a row, putting up a lot of runs every game.”