All Maryland baseball left fielder Will Watson could do was watch with his hands on his head as the Terps’ four-run lead over Purdue dissolved in the seventh inning Sunday.
On a bloop single with the bases loaded, Watson’s throw home was way off-line, but third baseman Taylor Wright elected to let it bounce past him rather than cut it off. The ball went to the backstop, and all three runners crossed the plate, leveling the score at six.
The miscues mounted when left-hander Grant Burleson’s wild pitch plated center fielder Skyler Hunter from third, allowing Purdue to take a 7-6 lead.
The Terps’ shortcomings Sunday further squashed their hopes of achieving the top-eight finish required to make the conference tournament. The Boilermakers erased a four-run deficit to secure an 8-6 win and complete a crushing series sweep, pushing Maryland further from relevancy in the Big Ten standings.
“[Coach Rob Vaughn] kind of said it best — he’s never really seen anything like that before, and to be honest, I haven’t in a while, either,” center fielder Zach Jancarski said. “Communication wasn’t there as far as to cut it off or not, and then it kind of had a negative domino effect from there.”
Having left his previous start with shoulder tightness after one inning, starter Tyler Blohm allowed hits in each frame but still compiled six solid innings Sunday.
He loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh before Burleson entered in relief, got one out on a fielder’s choice that scored a run but then reloaded the bases with a walk. Then, Hunter’s single into left-center field set off the cascade of errors.
Once Watson’s throw passed Wright, catcher Justin Morris dove in a failed attempt to prevent it from reaching the backstop. Burleson eventually retrieved it with enough time to nab the tying run, but his throw was inaccurate and bounced away from Wright, who was covering home. Wright’s lack of urgency picking it up meant Hunter reached third without a throw, setting up his score on Burleson’s wild pitch two pitches later.
“A flail to the outfield ended up being a three-run triple, essentially,” Vaughn said. “Not taking care of the baseball right there … came back to get us.”
Purdue (19-16, 7-4 Big Ten) had been trailing Maryland (16-23, 3-8 Big Ten) since the Terps’ four-run third inning, capped by a three-run home run from Jancarski.
Boilermakers left fielder Ben Nisle hit a solo homer in the fourth to grab one run back, and an error by Wright led to another run in the sixth, cutting Maryland’s lead to 4-2.
Dunn responded with a two-out, two-run double to re-establish a four-run lead entering the seventh.
“It was important at the time,” Jancarski said. “You’ve got to play every last out in this league because teams are … not going to quit.”
That added cushion wasn’t enough to withstand Purdue’s five-run seventh inning. Watson’s miscue was compounded by shortstop AJ Lee’s error in the ninth with a runner on third, giving the Boilermakers an 8-6 advantage.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t just worn it out and put a whole lot of runs out there,” Vaughn said, “so stuff like that gets amplified.”
As the Terps’ coaches met near their dugout after the game, they loudly expressed frustration at the sloppy play.
The Terps couldn’t overcome their two-run deficit in the ninth, which doomed them to a sixth consecutive defeat. Maryland had a chance to climb up the Big Ten standings against Purdue, but a sweep to the Boilermakers dropped Vaughn’s team to 11th in the conference.
“It’s pretty early. We’ve still got, I’d say [four] more series,” Blohm said. “That’s a lot of games and that’s a lot of time for us to bounce back.”
