In a pivotal first game, the Terps fell behind and couldn’t come back.
Maryland baseball dropped the opening game of its crucial Big Ten series against Illinois, 7-4, Friday in College Park.
Maryland’s Big Ten Tournament chances hang in the balance this weekend against the conference-leading Fighting Illini, who came into the series 10-2 in Big Ten play. But the Terps, now 10th in the league standings, didn’t look up to occasion on Friday, held to just two hits through six innings.
“We’re just trying to find a place to where we play better down the stretch,” Maryland head coach Matt Swope said. “We just need to play more consistent baseball down the stretch, something we did earlier in the year that we haven’t done recently.”
Logan Koester took the ball for Maryland and gave up two early runs. Illinois scored in each of the first two innings with RBI singles from Camden Janik and Coltin Quagliano.
Maryland got on the board in the third when Eddie Hacopian hit an RBI groundout, but things got worse for Koester in the next inning. He surrendered three runs in the fourth frame, with Janik hitting a two-run single before a passed ball brought him in.
Koester’s day ended after that frame, as Illinois worked his pitch count to 92 — ending his day prematurely.
“We’re just looking for for some consistency, you know, obviously, he’s battling out there,” Swope said of Koester. “We didn’t do a great job defensively.”
Andrew Johnson came in to relieve Koester and worked a flawless fifth inning, but in the sixth, Quagliano crushed a solo home run to make it 6-1. After Johnson got out of the sixth, Terps second baseman Sam Hojnar answered with an opposite-field solo home run.
Maryland would add two runs in the ninth, with RBI singles coming from Elijah Lambros and Hacopian, but it wasn’t enough.
Three things to know
1. Crowder neutralized Maryland’s offense. Jack Crowder, Illinois’ starting pitcher, only allowed two hits in six innings. He had the Terps’ number on Friday.
2. Koester hasn’t been ideal. Koester has started on Fridays twice this season, but hasn’t been effective in his new role. Still, Swope was quick to point out the team’s play hasn’t been up to par as a whole.
“I just didn’t think overall, you know, regardless of the starting pitching, that we played well in all three phases,” Swope said. “You’re not going to win Friday night games in conference when you don’t do those things.”
3. Maryland started coming back too late. Maryland started a two-out rally in the ninth inning, plating two runs. But, the comeback effort came far too late.