Before Maryland baseball reliever Elliot Zoellner threw his first pitch in the 11th inning on Tuesday, he called for catcher Justin Vought to sort out an apparent miscommunication.
The quick mound visit didn’t seem to clear things up. Zoellner hit two batters, misplayed a comebacker and allowed a two-run single to give William & Mary a two-run lead that snowballed into a 6-3 Terps defeat.
Zoellner’s ineffective showing was part of a broader letdown from Maryland’s bullpen. After starter Mark DiLuia supplied six quality innings, four underclassmen hurlers allowed runs. Zoellner’s proved most costly after coach Rob Vaughn burned his top two relievers in the eighth, ninth and 10th.
But Vaughn’s mind reverted back to when the Terps had a runner on third with no outs and failed to plate him in the eighth, a part of their 17 runners left on base.
“At the end of the day, the game should’ve been over,” Vaughn said. “Really, I don’t even look at [the relief troubles]. You leave 17 guys on base at home and can’t execute like that, you don’t have a chance to win.”
Unlike last week against Richmond, when Vaughn hesitated to bring in Murphy, the manager turned to the right-hander in the eighth after right-hander Sean Fisher allowed a go-ahead home run and double. Murphy rewarded the faith with two scoreless innings. First baseman and reliever Kevin Biondic handled the Tribe in the 10th.
But short on reliable options beyond Murphy and Biondic, Vaughn turned to Zoellner, who had allowed three runs in his previous outing. The result was a loss that stalled the team’s momentum after it beat the Wildcats on Saturday and Sunday.
“They went out there and competed,” DiLuia said. “A couple pitches didn’t go their way, obviously. The strike zone was something that was kind of all over today, so it was something we were battling with, and every pitcher was.”
DiLuia entered the contest with a 8.28 ERA and a .360 batting average against. But he rebounded from early trouble to match his career long outing, marking his best start since holding VCU scoreless in four innings Feb. 28. After surrendering a run in the first, he limited William & Mary (11-18) to two hits for the rest of his appearance.
Still, Maryland’s lineup struggled to get going against Tribe starter Nick Butts, who didn’t allow a hit in his four scoreless innings of work. Three times in that span, baserunners were either caught stealing or stranded as the Terps (14-15) failed to capitalize on the five walks Butts allowed.
“We hit the ball hard, just right at guys sometimes,” DiLuia said. “Ultimately, the ball just didn’t roll our way.”
The Terps fell behind after right-hander Mike Vasturia allowed one run in the seventh, and again when Fisher surrendered a homer in the eighth.
Maryland jumped on right-hander Jamie Sara in the fifth to score its first run, and right fielder Marty Costes plated second baseman Nick Dunn to level the score 2-2. An error from Tribe reliever Charlie Fletcher led to Maryland’s third run in the eighth.
After the Tribe posted three runs in the top of the 11th, Maryland threatened with two on and no outs in the bottom half of the frame. But a strikeout and two groundouts ended the threat as the Terps fell to 2-6 in midweek contests this campaign.
“Our big goal is consistent baseball,” Vaughn said. “I can’t say that we’ve done that enough lately.”
