The Terp’s offense could not get the bats going early on Wednesday against George Mason starting pitcher freshman Patrick Halligan in a 9-5 loss to the Patriots. Maryland is now 18-19 on the season.

Halligan came into the best start of his season with a 7.76 ERA and a .331 opponent’s batting average but managed to carve up the Maryland offense that scored 32 runs over the weekend against Northeastern. Halligan went 6 2/3 innings with three strikeouts, two hits, two walks, and two earned runs in what was the longest outing of his career. Halligan is now 3-3 on the season and lowered his ERA to 6.81.

George Mason jumped on Terps starter Drew Wilden in the first inning from a bases loaded, two-RBI single from Aaron Yurko that scored Tim Quinn and Bailey Klein. Then in the third, Klein blasted an opposite field home run to add to his productive day and give George Mason a 3-0 lead.

Mark DiLuia came into pitch in the fourth inning to relieve Wilden and quickly let up a double from Yurko, single from Greg Popatak, and RBI single from Daniel Brooks to put the Patriots up 4-0. A walk and hit-by-pitch from Logan Driscoll made the score 5-0.

The Patriots added on two more runs in the sixth inning off Sean Fisher via RBI from Alejandro Aponte and Klein to make it 7-0.

The Terps finally got on the board in the top of the seventh inning. After a Zach Doss walk, a Caleb Walls single and a George Mason pitching change to Mason Posey, Michael Pineiro drove them in on a two-RBI single to right field. AJ Lee followed it up with an RBI single for himself, scoring Ben Cowles, who reached on a walk earlier in the inning, to make it 7-3.

Maryland closer John Murphy came into the game in the bottom of the eighth inning to try to hold the deficit but failed to do so, letting up two runs on a hit an error, a HBP, and two walks.

Maryland threatened and even put some runs on the board in the top of the ninth after a Cowles HBP, a Lee double, a Randy Bednar sac fly to centerfield and Taylor Wright singled to make it 9-5.

For George Mason, Bailey Klein was 2-for-3 with with a home run and three runs scored while Aaron Yurko was 2-for-3 with three RBI.

Michael Pineiro led the Terps offensively, going 2-for-4 with two RBI on the day. Lee and Wright also had two hits for Maryland.

The Maryland pitching staff let up eight walks and nine hits on the day. Of the nine runs scored by George Mason, four were unearned. The Maryland defense also committed two errors.

The Terps next matchup will be a weekend series starting this Friday against Ohio State in College Park. First pitch on Friday will be at 6:30 p.m.