In Tuesday’s 1-0 win over Norfolk State, the Terrapins baseball team could muster only a lone run and six hits against a sub-.500 team from a non-power conference.
Citing a lack of energy and effort from the Terps, coach Erik Bakich expected a bounce-back performance on the road against George Mason, a team that stole a game in College Park earlier this year.
In their game yesterday, Bakich said the energy and effort were there. The hits, though, still weren’t.
The Terps’ offensive woes continued in Fairfax, Va. The team notched just three hits against four Patriots pitchers in a 5-3 loss.
“Today was kind of one of those days in baseball where you don’t really do anything great, you don’t really do anything bad,” Bakich said. “It’s just kind of some misfortunes throughout the game and some bad luck causes a loss.”
One week after throwing his first career complete game in a 2-1 win over Towson, Terps starter Sander Beck was chased off the mound after allowing five runs (two earned) on seven hits in 4.1 innings. His three unearned runs came in the first inning, aided by two wild pitches and an error by third baseman K.J. Hockaday. Those three runs proved to be a deficit the Terps could not overcome.
“The effort was better,” Bakich said. “We’re at a point right now where there’s urgency in every single pitch in every single inning in every single game. When you don’t get the results that you’re looking for … that can lead to guys over-trying and pressing.”
The offense did its best to keep the Terps (29-20) in the game, though. After George Mason (32-17) added another run in the second, the Terps came back in the fourth with three of their own.
After first baseman Tomo Delp singled up the middle to score Hockaday, shortstop Ryan Holland singled to right-center to bring home the team’s second run. Delp scored on an error later in the frame, cutting the Terps’ deficit to 4-3.
For a moment, it appeared the Terps had life.
But they would get only one more hit the rest of the way. George Mason relievers held the Terps hitless over the final five-plus frames and the Patriots tacked on another run in the fifth, ending Beck’s night and extending their lead to its final 5-3 margin.
“It seemed like everything they hit kind of found its way through,” Bakich said. “We just couldn’t get anything across.”
Relievers Jamie Pashuck and David Carroll kept the Terps within striking distance, though, allowing one hit and one walk over the final 3.2 innings of play.
But George Mason relievers Jake Kleine, Kevin Lingerman and Sean Cabrera were arguably even better. The trio allowed just one hit and two walks in the final 5.2 innings of play, completely erasing the Terps’ bats.
It was only the fourth time this season the Terps dropped a game to a nonconference foe. Only seven games remain in the season, and the stakes are getting higher for the Terps.
But with three games at No. 1 Florida State slated for this weekend, Bakich is looking to have his team get back to the mentality and approach that had the Terps take multiple games from nationally ranked teams earlier in the year.
“The reason baseball is a weird sport is the harder you try, the worse it gets sometimes,” Bakich said. “I think there’s a few guys that just need to exhale and let the game happen. They’re trying to force it.”
dgallen@umdbk.com
