GREENVILLE, N.C. — Needing a boost on offense, Maryland baseball second baseman Nick Dunn followed his leadoff double in the sixth by trying to steal third.
But Dunn, the only consistent Terps starter without a stolen base this season, was easily thrown out. So instead of first baseman Kevin Biondic’s double scoring a run and cutting No. 18 East Carolina’s lead to 3-1, the Pirates’ shutout continued.
Dunn ran his way out of Maryland’s best scoring chance since the first inning, when Pirates left fielder Andrew Henrickson robbed Biondic’s would-be homer. In the series opener against its first ranked opponent this campaign, Maryland’s futility with runners on base nullified its 10 hits, and East Carolina won, 4-0.
“We just couldn’t quite string them together,” coach Rob Vaughn said. “Really good pitchers have a tendency to give up a hit and then get two guys and give up another hit, but they kind of spread them out. And that’s what [East Carolina starter Trey Benton] did a really nice job of tonight.”
Maryland increased its aggressiveness on the base paths last year, swiping 101 bags after nabbing 28 in 2016. Despite talk from Vaughn’s staff about putting runners in motion at a similar rate, the Terps entered Friday’s contest with 20 stolen bases in 16 games, well below last year’s pace.
But with the Terps struggling to find clutch hits — going 2-for-18 with runners on and leaving nine men on base — Dunn pressed the issue, and paid the price.
“I thought [Dunn] kind of forced it a little bit,” Vaughn said. “It’s a situation you have your four-hole guy up and a 2-0 count, like, you feel pretty good. But at the same time, when you’ve got a guy going like Benton was today, you’re trying to find some way to get a guy to third base with less than two outs.”
East Carolina, meanwhile, maximized its opportunities with runners on, using five hits against starter Taylor Bloom (2-3, 3.53 ERA) to post four runs. In the third, shortstop AJ Lee’s error gifted the Pirates their first baserunner, and they followed that with a pair of singles and a sacrifice bunt to take a 2-0 lead.
Maryland’s offensive struggles were nothing new. The Terps managed four hits in a frigid loss to Delaware on Tuesday and were one-hit by Bryant in the opening game of their home series last weekend in another cold-weather game.
Despite the forecast in North Carolina being in the 60s and sunny, Maryland’s lineup couldn’t thaw out enough to take advantage of singles in each of the first four innings. Then, Benton (4-1, 1.69 ERA) settled down, leaning on his breaking pitches to escape trouble and accumulate eight strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings.
“He did a good job of working all three pitches for strikes,” third baseman Taylor Wright said. “Eventually, those bases-loaded situations, the balls are going to drop in and we’re going to start hanging up some runs.”
After working around trouble in the sixth, Benton loaded the bases with one out in the seventh. He struck out center fielder Zach Jancarski, however, and reliever Ryan Ross induced a groundout from Dunn to end the threat.
The Pirates added a run in the eighth to take a 4-0 lead and Maryland went down in order in the top of the ninth.
“We just doubled their hit total. The difference is theirs came in bunches and ours were spread out,” Vaughn said. “That one error in the third … that opened the gates for them.”
