Junior infielder Dan Melvin reacts as the Terp offense struggles to hit.

TOWSON – As soon as the Terrapin baseball team took the field yesterday afternoon at John B. Schuerholz Park, they found themselves caught in a terrible whirlwind – both literally and figuratively.

As strong gusts whipped across the field, offsetting an otherwise sunny afternoon, the Terps fell into a funk of eight Towson runs in the first four innings, offsetting a positive last couple of weeks with its fourth straight loss, 9-2.

“There’s no excuses,” coach Terry Rupp said. “We got outplayed today in every facet of the game. We got ourselves down in a hole early, and it’s tough to get out. Anytime you go out onto the road, you can’t get into a hole like that.”

The wind, in a sense, assisted in digging that hole. After Towson’s Matt Collins tripled to start the game and scored on an Adam Heffron single, senior Kyle Skellchock popped one up to Terp senior rightfielder Matt Maropis. As Maropis tracked the ball, the left-to-right blowing winds grabbed it and allowed it to drop into the rightfield grass.

“It was pretty hard out there,” said Maropis, who was charged with an error. “The wind kept changing back and forth, and it kept knocking balls down. It just made it tough to judge.”

The error allowed Heffron to move into scoring position, where he would score on a double from cleanup batter A.J. Tinnerella to give the Tigers (5-10) a 2-0 lead.

The Terps (6-10, 2-4 ACC), on the other hand, fanned 1-2-3 in their first inning at the plate. Over 4.2 innings, Tiger senior pitcher Mike Santmyer allowed just one run on four hits and eight strikeouts.

By game’s end, the Terps had 12 strikeouts total, six of which came on watched-third strikes. With only seven team hits throughout the game, the Terp batters registered just one more base hit than they stood looking at a third strike.

Even Gerry Spessard, who entered the game with an 11-game hit streak and 13 extra-base hits, was completely shut down. He went 0-3 with a walk and went down looking twice.

“We didn’t swing the bat today,” Maropis said. “Our coaches have been banging on that all year, and we haven’t done it yet.”

The pitching wasn’t much better. The Terp pitchers were shelled for nine runs throughout the first five innings and Rupp was forced to make three pitching changes during the first four innings. Starter Kevin Biringer was bruised for four runs on five hits. Brett Tidball and Brad Taylor surrendered a combined five hits and four runs in relief.

Rupp said his team’s only bright spot came from reliever Casey Baron, who allowed only one hit, a home run, over 3.2 innings of relief.

The Terps take on Mount Saint Mary’s at 5 p.m. at Shipley Field, but must wait until April 5 for a home rematch with the Tigers.

Contact reporter Jason Fraley at fraleydbk@gmail.com.