The Terps bats stayed silent for the second straight day, as Northwestern beat Maryland, 3-2, on Friday in Evanston, Ill. The loss is the third straight for coach John Szefc’s squad
Junior Matt Portland struck out nine and allowed just two runs over seven innings for the Wildcats (18-35), who hand Maryland (35-20) another bad loss heading into the postseason.
Szefc’s offense mustered five hits all afternoon, all by just two players – shortstop Kevin Smith (three) and right fielder Anthony Papio (two). Both their runs came in the fourth inning on a Papio double as the lone bright spot for a team that was shut out in yesterday’s loss.
Northwestern, although they scored just one more run than their opponent, racked up nine hits – six of which came off Terps’ starter Brian Shaffer who was pulled after 5.1 innings of work.
Maryland falls to 13-10 in the Big Ten, winning just two of their last eight conference matchups. They face the Wildcats in their season finale on Saturday at 2 p.m. before beginning the Big Ten conference tournament on May 20.
