IRVINE, CALIFORNIA — In its first three midweek games this season, the Terrapins baseball team struggled to keep teams off the scoreboard. The Terps’ opponents scored at least 10 runs in each of the three losses.
The Terps took a small step forward Wednesday at UC Irvine, surrendering 9 runs, but still dropped the back-and-forth game, 9-5.
“You can’t give up nine runs on the road against those guys and have any chance at winning,” coach John Szefc said.
After left-hander Tayler Stiles cruised through the first two innings, a couple of Terps mistakes helped the Anteaters take a 1-0 lead in the third.
Stiles issued a four-pitch walk to the Anteaters’ No. 9 hitter to leadoff the inning, and he advanced to third on a two-base error by second basemen Nick Dunn. That set the table for center fielder Keston Hiura, who entered the game batting .467.
Hiura delivered with an RBI single. He finished the night going 2-for-3 with a pair of walks and two runs scored.
Stiles made his first start of the season Wednesday after making his first six appearances of the season in relief.
“Our other midweek starters really haven’t been too effective, so we figured we’d give him a [start],” Szefc said. “It was what it was, he didn’t do too well.”
The junior went 4.2 innings, giving up six runs (two earned) on nine hits. Stiles took the loss, but he “did the best he could do,” Szefc said, considering the quality opponent and it being his first start of the year.
Thanks to the offense, the Terps remained within striking distance until late in the game. The Anteaters scored in each of the third, fourth, and fifth innings, and the Terps were able to respond with runs of their own in the top half of the next frames.
“Our offense answered back pretty good,” Szefc said.
In the fourth, Dunn started a rally with a single. Later in the inning, right fielder Marty Costes tied the game with a sacrifice fly.
But another costly error from the Terps (7-9) resulted in more runs for UCI in the fourth. With one out and a runner on first, right fielder Nickens dropped a routine flyball. The Anteaters went on to cash in 3 runs in the inning with a pair of singles and a suicide-squeeze bunt, taking a 4-1 lead.
“We have to clean that stuff up,” Nickens said.
Like they had in the last inning, the Terps erased the UCI (10-6) lead in the fifth, and again featured a Terp making up for a mistake in the field at the plate.
With runners on the corners and one out, Nickens laced a triple down the right-field line to plate two runs. He came around to score on a grounder that was mishandled at second base to knot the game at 4.
“I was glad I could, at the time, make up for the error that I had made,” Nickens said.
In the next inning, though, the Anteaters captured the lead for good. They did so without the help of an error, scoring two runs behind a pair of singles and a walk. UCI eventually chased Stiles from the game before he could get through five innings of work.
The Terps cut the lead to one in the top of the sixth on a single by shortstop Kevin Smith, but that was as close as they’d get.
The Anteaters added a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning and one in the eighth to take control of the game. Of UCI’s nine runs, only five of them were earned.
“The pitchers put us in a situation where, if we play better defense, maybe there’s a different outcome,” Nickens said.
But like all season, the Terps weren’t able to put the defense and pitching together in a midweek game, remaining winless in their four midweek contests.
“Until we figure it out out of the bullpen and stop giving up free bases,” Szefc said, “the outcome will be similar to what it was tonight.”
