FULLERTON, CALIFORNIA — For some of Friday’s game between the Terrapins baseball team and No. 22 Cal State Fullerton, it seemed all the Titans would need was the two runs through the fifth inning.
The Terps offense, though, came alive and scored two runs in the eighth inning to tie the game. Titans shortstop Timmy Richards, though, hit a home run on the first pitch of the bottom of the 10th, securing a 3-2 walk-off victory and nullifying the Terps’ comeback effort.
Before breaking through to tie the game in the eighth, the Terps squandered a pair of scoring opportunities.
With the game scoreless in the third, the Terps (7-10) had runners on second and third with one out. Junior rightfielder Madison Nickens tried to give his team the lead with a bunt, but his effort went right back to Titans (11-6) starter Blake Quinn. Neither Terps baserunners advanced, and a strikeout ended the inning.
A seventh inning rally ended in similar fashion when Nickens swung and missed three times with the bases loaded to end the inning.
After the Terps failed to score the game’s first run in its half of the third, the Titans took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of that frame thanks to a pair of walks from Terps ace Mike Shawaryn and an error from catcher Justin Morris.
Another fielding miscue granted the Titans its second run, though this one didn’t go down as an error.
Second basemen Nick Dunn couldn’t cleanly gather a softly hit ball up the middle to lead off the fifth, and after a stolen base and a bunt hit, the Titans scored a run on a double play, the only earned run charged to Shawaryn on Friday.
Against Quinn, the Terps had just one hit, didn’t score a run and struck out eight times. But they had many long at-bats, forcing Quinn to work hard for his outs. The Terps earned four walks against the junior and forced him to throw 93 pitches, limiting him to just five innings of work.
Once the Titans went to its bullpen, the Terps offense found more success. After the bases-loaded opportunity in the seventh, Dunn and designated hitter Nick Cieri led off the eighth with singles.
Freshman left fielder Marty Costes came through with an RBI single, and later in the inning third basemen Andrew Bechtold executed a swinging bunt to tie the game at two.
By then, Galligan had taken over for Shawaryn, who threw 6 innings and scattered five hits. Shawaryn has had an up-and-down start to his highly anticipated junior season and was still working through control issues control Friday, as he walked four batters.
Galligan, who also threw 2.2 innings Wednesday at UC Irvine, worked around trouble in the bottom of the ninth before surrendering the walk-off to Richards.
