No. 24 Maryland had zero answers on the mound or at the plate for the Illinois Fighting Illini on Friday night, losing 19-1 in the first game of this weekend series.

It was a dominant outing for Illinois starter Cole Kirschieper, only allowing one run on two hits and striking out eight Maryland hitters in six quality innings of work.

Illinois started the scoring in the third off an RBI single from Janas and a three-run home run from Kellen Sarver. After a fielder’s choice and throwing error plated two more in the fifth, the Terps found themselves down five runs early.

The middle of the Illini lineup blew the game wide open with a five-run sixth and four late-inning home runs.

It was a tough outing for Nick Dean tonight, allowing six earned runs to cross the plate in four innings of work. The Terps starter was able to get out of a few jams, stranding the bases loaded in the first, but a four-run third and two more in the fifth were enough to tab him with the loss.

The Maryland bullpen did not fare much better tonight, allowing thirteen more runs over the final five innings of the game.

Troy Schreffler Jr. was the only Terp able to produce a run tonight, picking up a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning.

A three up, three down ninth inning closed the book for Maryland on a night that Coach Rob Vaughn and his team will want to forget sooner rather than later.

With the loss, Maryland falls to 30-8 overall and 7-3 in the Big 10. Illinois improves to 11-2 in conference play and jumps to two and a half games ahead of the Terps in the Big 10 standings.

Maryland and Illinois will be back in action tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. ET and 8:00 p.m. ET for a day-night doubleheader. Ryan Ramsey will take the mound for Maryland in game one and Jason Savacool will get the nod for game two.