The stage was set between two of the nation’s best pitchers Friday night in Buies Creek, North Carolina, as the Terps kicked off a three-game set with Campbell. With Maryland’s Nick Dean matched up with Campbell’s Thomas Harrington, hits were scarce. But a manufactured run in the first inning would kick off the Terps’ offense and help them to a 4-0 victory over the Fighting Camels.

Neither pitcher ran into virtually any trouble during their outings, allowing seven total baserunners through seven innings of work each.

Dean’s scoreless outing made it 14-straight shutout innings for the junior since last Friday, and he has yet to surrender a single run through two starts.

While Harrington was given the loss tonight, his performance was just about everything Campbell could have hoped for. The sophomore struck out nine Terps over seven innings, with the first-inning run being the only damage.

The Terps got on the board early thanks to Chris Alleyne’s craftiness, as the veteran took a walk in the first inning, stole second base, and arrived at third courtesy of an errant throw by Campbell’s catcher.

Matt Shaw then came to the plate and put up the best at-bat of the season thus far, battling away at 13 pitches before ultimately lofting the 14th pitch into right field and scoring Alleyne from third on a sacrifice-fly. The Terps wouldn’t have to look back, and were lucky to have gotten that early run because Harrington was purely untouchable since.

The 2021 Big South Freshman of the Year sent down 18-straight Terps following the sacrifice-fly, not allowing another baserunner until the seventh inning. Despite Maryland running up his pitch count to 31 from the first inning, he would cruise through the next six frames on 72 pitches.

The eighth inning would present some trouble for Maryland, as Noah Mrotek allowed the first two Campbell batters to reach base in relief of Dean. Sean Heine immediately replaced him on the mound, and the Terps picked up two huge outs thanks to Luke Shliger throwing out the lead runner at third and Heine punching out the first batter he faced.

The pitch of the night came at the very end of the eighth. Facing a base-loaded jam, Heine struck out Campbell’s Bryce Arnold to keep the Camels scoreless.

A half-inning later, the Terps would finally grab some insurance off Campbell reliever Ryan Chasse. Chasse filled the bases on a pair of walks and a hit batter, and Nick Lorusso made him pay with a two-run single up the middle. The rally wouldn’t end as Troy Schreffler added a RBI of his own, paving the way for a stress-free, scoreless ninth for Heine.

Maryland now stands at 5-0 to begin the season — the first time since 1968 — and will look to make it 6-0 Saturday afternoon.