Matt Swope didn’t mince his words. Kenny Lippman needs to be better, the Maryland baseball coach said.

“It’s as simple as that,” Swope said. “A Friday night guy, we got to have a better start … we don’t really have another option in this transition year.”

Lippman surrendered six runs in as many innings against Indiana. It was the third time in the last four games the right-hander conceded five or more runs.

The Terps’ relievers didn’t fare much better. That combination doomed Maryland on Friday in a 15-4 loss to Indiana in the fifth consecutive game Swope’s squad allowed nine or more runs

Lippman opened the season with a 2.93 ERA through four starts. That number has ballooned to 6.06 after the four since. Swope attributed the pains as a confidence issue postgame.

The Hoosiers notched their first run in the second inning after a hitless opening frame and mounted four more the next inning. Lippman struggled with his control as he threw three wild pitches and walked a batter.

[Maryland baseball aims to learn from first Big Ten series loss since 2021]

Indiana hit two doubles in the frame while Brenczewski added his second of three RBI singles and scored his first of two runs.

Lippman limited the Hoosiers to one run in the next three innings and the Terps trailed by two when he exited the game.

Despite surrendering five runs in the first three innings, Lippman pitched deeper than usual due to the short-staffed pitching crew. The Terps used six hurlers in a 13-12 win against UMBC on Wednesday and injuries to Trystan Sarcone and Garrett French made the options even thinner.

Evan Smith relieved Lippman in the seventh inning and allowed one run in his fifth appearance of the year.

Logan Ott and Duke McCarron took the mound in the eighth and the ninth and allowed four runs each. It was Ott’s third game of the year and McCarron’s fifth.

[Maryland baseball falls to Michigan, 9-4, drops first Big Ten series in nearly three years]

“I told these younger guys, there’s gonna be a lot of guys in and out of the lineup now,” Swope said. “We’ll keep throwing those younger guys out there.”

Maryland’s offense didn’t offer much support to its pitchers as they continued to suffer cold spurts throughout the game.

The Terps were hitless in five innings and only recorded multiple hits in two. As cold stretches continued for the Terps, the Hoosiers kept piling on.

Eddie Hacopian launched a 369-foot home run that clanked off the scoreboard in left center field to open Maryland’s scoring. The Terps scored three runs in the fourth inning but failed to add anything more.

“We just got to be better,” Swope said.

Maryland suffered its first conference series loss in nearly three years last weekend, ending a 23-series streak with a losing weekend at Michigan. Now the Terps are in danger of another.