The Maryland baseball team (13-5) fell to the Portland Pilots (10-5) in their series opener.
The Pilots got on the board first after Jake Holfcroft knocked an infield single and was quickly plated with Christian Cooney’s RBI. Soon after, Zach Togilia hammered a double to left field, bringing in two more runs. The Terps found themselves in a 3-0 hole to start.
Maryland starter Kenny Lippman has been productive thus far this season but was getting hit around by the Portland offense this evening. Eventually, with a few more base hits and walks, the Pilots led 5-0 after three innings.
Lippman pitched five innings, allowing five earned runs on six hits and three strikeouts. After a rough start, Maryland’s ace put together a satisfactory performance.
Andrew Johnson relived Lippman and was lights out for the Terps. He didn’t allow a hit and recorded two strikeouts in his bullpen appearance.
“Can’t say enough about AJ (Andrew Johnson),” “His last two outings have been lights out and like I said, I told these guys there are going to be a lot of different lineups, a lot of different guys out on the mound, so whoever seizes our opportunity, you just got to take advantage of it and that’s what Andrew is doing right now. He definitely kept us in the game.”
Head coach Matt Swope
The Terps finally got their first baserunner of the night when Chris Hacopian singled up the middle. Maryland’s offense continued to string together some opportunities in the top of the seventh with hits from Sam Hojnar and Chris Hacopian. Kevin Kister hit a second fly, scoring Hojnar, and Hacopian ran home on a wild pitch, trimming their deficit to three runs.
In the following inning, the Terps kept their comeback hopes alive. Eddie Hacopian hit a soaring fly ball that turned into a double and allowed Brayden Martin to score from first.
After two solid offensive innings, Maryland’s luck ended when Portland called on Tanner Douglas for the save opportunity. He struck out all three batters he faced, securing the Pilots victory.
Maryland baseball plays their second game of the series at 6 pm ET on Saturday night.
