It was a very quiet day in College Park.

The Maryland Terrapins (10-3) welcomed their border neighbor Delaware Blue Hens (6-5) to The Bob on Tuesday afternoon for the squad’s final home game for the next two weeks. 

The Terps came out victorious over the Blue Hens, 3-2, in what turned out to be an absolute pitcher’s duel. Their three runs are tied for the lowest amount of runs they have put up in any single game this season, but the other was a loss. 

The offense got things started quickly, as second baseman Sam Hojnar hit a double and used a throwing error by the pitcher to advance to third. In the next at-bat, Kevin Keister hit a ball right back to the pitcher, who tried to nab Hojnar at home, but the ball was fumbled by the Delaware catcher. 

In the third, after a Chris Hacopian walk and a single from Keister, Jacob Orr singled to center field, driving in Hacopian. It would also be Hacopian and Keister to account for the team’s final run in the fifth inning. 

Keister had an impressive outing, getting on base in every at bat and recording two RBIs. 

“I’ve been struggling a little bit recently, but that’s the great thing about baseball. You get to play every day and reset,” said Keister. “I saw the ball well today and it just happened to fall for me a couple times.”

While the Terps have not struggled offensively this season, they stranded nine runners in Tuesday’s game, making things a little too close for comfort.

“When you’ve got guys on third base with less than two outs, you have to cash in, because you just don’t know how it’s going to be at the end of the game,” head coach Matt Swope said about finishing scoring opportunities. “We’ve got to do a better job with that. We’ve got to give ourselves a little breathing room, because maybe that’s the difference in the game later.” 

“Sometimes you’ve gotta win in different ways,” Keister said. “The pitchers won the game for us today. We have a lot of kids with a lot of confidence swinging the bat, so we’ll flush this game, come out and practice the next few days, and try to go score 10 on Friday.”

The Terps can thank their pitching staff for coming out and shutting down the Blue Hens’ lineup. The squad only walked one batter all game, and didn’t do so until the eighth inning.

Ryan Van Buren earned the starting nod for another midweek outing and delivered. He finished his day with just one earned run over five innings pitched, five hits, four strikeouts, and no walks conceded. He moves to 3-0 on the season. 

“He just needed to have confidence and he has started to get that,” Swope said. “Since the fall he has had a different demeanor about him. I can’t say enough about his confidence and how he’s been attacking hitters left and right.”

Omar Melendez came out of the bullpen in relief and finished the final four innings for the Terps. He would only surrender one earned run and two hits. 

While the Terps gave up two home runs, their ability to keep runners off the base paths kept them in control for the entirety of the game. 

“When you don’t give up freebies, solo home runs aren’t gonna beat you,” Swope said. 

The Terps won’t be back at home until March 19. They’ll start a two-week road trip this upcoming weekend when they take on Charlotte.