In the weeks ahead of the Maryland baseball team’s season opener, coach John Szefc boasted about his roster’s experience. The team returned 11 players who combined for 410 starts last season.
In Maryland’s 8-3 loss to Ball State in Clearwater, Florida, on Friday night, though, a familiar problem plagued the Terps. After struggling last season, the Terps’ bullpen blew the team’s lead. A five-run sixth inning lifted the Cardinals.
Just five of Maryland’s pitchers last season held an ERA under four, with the relief core struggling to maintain leads. Two of those five pitchers—Robert Galligan and Mike Shawaryn—left via the MLB Draft.
Despite turning a one-run deficit into a two-run advantage in the fifth, the Terps were unable to limit the Cardinals in the sixth.
Left-hander Tayler Stiles seemed poised to limit the damage, but a communication issue in shallow left field extended the inning, and the Cardinals took advantage. Ball State catcher Caleb Stayton hit a ball in the air between shortstop and left field, and neither shortstop Kevin Smith nor left fielder Madison Nickens clearly called for the ball.
Instead, the ball landed just beyond the infield dirt in left field, and Stayton was awarded an RBI single that tied the game at three.
It took three relievers—Stiles and right-handers Ryan Hill and Jared Price—to end the inning, but not before Ball State added three runs.
Though Maryland’s offense forced Cardinals starter BJ Butler to throw 96 pitches, which resulted in his departure after 4.2 innings, right-hander Colin Brockhouse kept the Terps off the board over the final 4.1 frames.
Brockhouse wouldn’t end up needing the insurance, but Ball State third baseman Sean Kennedy delivered one final blow to the Terps bullpen, a two-run home run over the left field wall against right-hander Cameron Enck in the eighth, to make it an 8-3 contest.
The bullpen’s inability to maintain the lead overshadowed an effective start for right-hander Brian Shaffer. Shaffer, Maryland’s new Friday starter after pitching on Sundays last season, said Tuesday he wanted to get ahead of hitters.
He did so, pitching five innings and allowing one run while striking out six and walking a pair. The junior didn’t allow a hit through 4.1 innings.
Maryland’s offense couldn’t replicate its early success and finished with 10 strikeouts. Szefc told Maryland Baseball Network before the game that an ideal start would feature fewer than five combined strikeouts for his lineup.
There are still a pair of games this weekend for the Terps in the Clearwater Tournament, creating opportunities for the bullpen to bounce back. But to begin the 2017 campaign, an issue from the 2016 season resulted in Maryland’s first loss of the year.
