FREDERICKSBURG, Virginia — Maryland baseball saw the highs and lows of two different errant pitches on Tuesday against Virginia.

In the top of the ninth, Chris Hacopian pumped his fists as he sprinted to home plate following a passed ball from Ryan Osinski. The run tied the game at six after Maryland previously trailed by three in the frame.

Omar Melendez’s first offering in the bottom of the ninth to Harrison Didawick bounced off the turf in front of home plate. As Alex Calarco frantically turned to locate the ball, Henry Godbout dashed home from third, setting off a celebration as the Cavaliers poured out of the dugout

Maryland’s game followed a familiar script to past contests — a solid outing by the starter, only for the bullpen to quickly squander a once-held lead.

Maryland fell, 7-6, to the Cavaliers at Virginia Credit Union Stadium. The Terps allowed six runs after the fifth inning.

“It’s a tough, tough way to go,” coach Matt Swope said.

The Cavaliers scored only one run with freshman Jake Yeager on the mound in his five inning start. Yeager surrendered the most hits of his young career with five, but it was his second straight start allowing one earned run after giving up four in his debut. The Cavaliers’ lone run with Yeager on the mound came in the fourth.

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After allowing two baserunners to open the sixth, Swope pulled Yeager for fellow freshman Cristofer Cespedes. The Cavaliers scored a run in the freshman’s first at-bat after a fielding error by shortstop Chris Hacopian — but Cespedes retired two straight following the run.

Swope then removed Cespedes and inserted Johnson, who needed just one out to exit the frame. Instead, the senior allowed a two-run single in his first at-bat. In the eighth, third baseman Luke Hanson launched a two-run homer off of Johnson into left field.

After opening the year with a 2.84 ERA, Johnson’s average has risen to 5.84 in his last four appearances. It is the second time in his last three appearances Johnson surrendered a late-inning home run — he conceded a three-run homer in the ninth inning against UCLA on Friday, which wiped a two-run Terps advantage.

“I talk about moments all the time, so with most of these situations right now, we’re just just not winning the moment,” Swope said.

Elijah Lambros scored the Terps’ first run after dropping a triple into center field in the third — bringing Michael Iannazzo home from first.

For Lambros, it was a homecoming. The senior grew up in Fredericksburg and attended Fredericksburg Christian School — a 20-minute drive to Virginia Credit Union Stadium.

A sacrifice fly by Jacob Orr and an RBI single by Hollis Porter in the sixth mounted a two-run lead which was erased by the bottom frame.

Hacopian started the rally effort in the ninth with a one-out RBI double. Calarco brought the score within one with a groundout before Osinski’s passed ball.

“Proud of the way the guys battled,” Swope said. “It was a good baseball game, they’re a good team.”

A renewed rivalry

Tuesday’s matchup was the teams’ first since 2015. Virginia’s orange and blue dominated the stands at Virginia Credit Union Stadium, with Nationals jerseys scattered throughout Washington’s minor league ballpark and Maryland apparel sparsely mixed in.

The majority of the series’ history stems from Maryland’s days in the ACC from 1954-2014. Swope faced the Cavaliers yearly while playing for Maryland from 1999-2002.

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“It is a rivalry,” Swope said. “That’s been ingrained since we were in the ACC.”

Swope, a lifelong Maryland fan, remembers watching the schools’ basketball rivalry, including former Cavaliers guard Curtis Staples, who set Virginia’s all-time 3-point record. On the football field, he recalls Tiki and Ronde Barber taking on Mark Duffner and Ron Vanderlinden-led Terps teams.

“Growing up as a guy in the ACC … We’ve taken pride in beating UVA, whether it’s in any sport,” Swope said. “My whole childhood was shaped on the basketball rivalry.”

Their last meeting came in the 2015 Charlottesville Super Regional, where Virginia swept Maryland in two games to advance to the College World Series — the same year the Terps began play in the Big Ten.

Swope and Virginia coach Brian O’Connor devised the plan to have a meeting between the two teams during the pandemic, initially trying to have a game at Nationals Park before landing on the Fredericksburg Nationals’ stadium. Over 4,000 spectators attended Tuesday’s game.

Maryland has since established new conference rivalries, no longer facing Virginia or traditional ACC-powerhouses like Duke, North Carolina and Florida State. Swope acknowledged that the move to the Big Ten brought financial benefits to the university, but he also noted how much the college sports landscape has changed.

He said the Terps have begun forming new rivals in the Big Ten like Michigan and Penn State. But it’ll take more than a decade to replace 60 years of ACC history.

“I think those things get created more over time,” Swope said. “Maybe it’s different in every sport, but just something that takes a little time to forge those rivalries.”