For the first six and a half innings of Wednesday afternoon’s midweek matchup between Maryland (6-3) and VCU (5-4), the Terps appeared to be in control. Maryland held a 6-3 lead going into the bottom of the seventh inning, but then, with two runners on and nobody out, VCU’s Aden Hill completely flipped the game on its head. 

The sophomore got a pitch he could handle and smoked a 3-run blast to left center field to level the score. Hill’s home run, however, was much, much more than a game-tying home run. What followed was a complete and utter disaster for Maryland. 

In a 30-minute long bottom of the seventh, the VCU offense scored 12 runs (only five of which were earned), on nine hits and four errors. In addition to the crooked numbers, Maryland couldn’t manage to record a single out on any of the first 12 batters it faced in the inning. To put that into perspective, every single batter in the VCU lineup touched home in the bottom of the seventh before the Terps could manage to get an out.       

The frame ultimately left Maryland in a 9-run hole going into the final two innings, and the deficit was simply too much to overcome. The Terps ultimately lost Wednesday afternoon’s matchup at VCU, 15-7 in brutal fashion.  

Wednesday’s game started much differently from how it ended for the Terps. After putting up 7 runs on, four walks, three HBP’s, and just one hit in the first inning of Tuesday’s game versus Georgetown, Maryland got the offense going in a similar fashion on Wednesday afternoon against VCU. 

Rams starter Cam Nuckols worked a clean first inning against the Terps, but the wheels came off in the second. The sophomore opened the frame by inducing a groundout from Kevin Keister, before then beaning Alex Calarco, and walking Elijah Lambros and Jacob Orr to load the bases. 

The Terps took advantage of the one-out threat and ended up plating four runs in the inning thanks to a Charlie Glennon RBI groundout, a passed ball (which plated Lambros), and a 2-RBI base hit from Eddie Hacopian. The junior’s line-drive single ended up being Maryland’s only hit of the inning, but just like yesterday, the Terps were able to use their plate discipline to establish a comfortable early lead.     

On the other side of the ball Alabama State transfer Omar Melendez got his first start for Maryland, and despite a few hiccups, the junior left-hander delivered a solid performance. Melendez looked particularly sharp through his first three innings of work, as he only gave up one hit while striking out two. 

Troubles came in Melendez’s fourth and final inning of work however, as he surrendered two hits, a walk, and a hit by a pitch, and gave up two runs in the process. One of those two runs came off of an RBI double from VCU’s Ethan Iannuzzi, who was the only Ram to record two knocks of Melendez – both of which were doubles. 

While Nuckols created the mess for the Rams in the second inning, reliever James McGrady was the one on the mound for three of the four runs that VCU surrendered. But after the shaky start to his day, McGrady kept the Maryland offense quiet for the next three innings. 

With the Terps unable to build on their early lead, VCU’s 2-run fourth inning loomed large, as it allowed the Rams to remain within striking distance as the Terps went to their bullpen. The first arm out of the stable for Maryland was Logan Berrier, who gave up one run in a solid two innings of relief before the Terps’ pitching and defense completely fell apart.

Reliever Garret French started the seventh inning for the Terps, and he was ultimately tagged with the loss after facing five VCU hitters and giving up five hits.   

The Terps will look to turn the page as they head back to “The Bob” for a weekend series with the Bryant Bulldogs (1-4).