The Maryland Terrapins (13-5) combined for 16 strikeouts as they dropped their series opener with the Portland Pilots (10-5) from Joe Etzel Field in Oregon on Friday.

The Pilots started off the evening with a bang. After Brady Bean led off the bottom half of the inning with a lineout to short, the Portland offense got to work. Jake Holfcroft poked an infield single, then advanced to third base after a steal and a wild pitch. He was brought home on a single from Christian Cooney, and then first baseman Zach Toglia added another two runs for the Pilots on a double to left.

Portland starter Nick Brink dealt this evening. The righty began his outing with three perfect innings, striking out seven of the nine batters the Terps sent to the plate.

Portland’s offense continued to get the better of Kenny Lippman in the bottom of the third. Holcroft walked and Cooney singled to put runners on the corners. Toglia mimicked his first-inning at-bat, doubling home two more runs for Portland. The Pilots led 5-0 after three innings.

Maryland finally picked up a baserunner in the fourth. With two outs, Chris Hacopian singled up the middle. However, Brink responded to his first piece of adversity well, forcing Sam Hojnar to ground out to short.

Lippman settled in after Toglia’s second two-run double. Maryland’s starter would retire Portland’s next six hitters in a row before he hit Jonas Salk for the second time on the night. Quite poetically, Lippman’s final batter of the night was Toglia. Lippman won the third and final matchup between the two, striking out Toglia in a marathon, 12-pitch at-bat.

Lippman ended the night with five earned runs on six hits in five innings with three strikeouts. Aside from the disastrous first and third innings from Lippman, Maryland’s righty had a solid outing for the Terps.

Andrew Johnson was Matt Swope’s first – and only – call to the bullpen. The junior lefty had a 1-2-3 sixth in his first inning of work, including a strikeout of Evan Scavotto.

Maryland’s offense finally began to crack Brink in the top of the seventh. Hacopian led off the inning with a single and Hojnar followed with a double, giving the Terps runners on second and third. The pressure got to Brink, who threw a wild pitch and allowed Hacopian to score from third. Kevin Keister followed with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Hojnar, cutting Portland’s lead down to 5-2.

That was the end of the line for Brink. Portland’s starter finished off his excellent outing with two runs and eleven strikeouts in seven innings of work. Four of Brink’s seven innings were 1-2-3 innings, he really stifled the Terps’ offense.

Johnson continued his great relief in the seventh. He got back-to-back center field flyouts from Tyler Howard and Brady Bean before he closed out the inning with a strikeout of Holcroft.

The Terps continued their comeback effort in the eighth. With two outs, Brayden Martin drew a walk to bring Eddie Hacopian to the plate. Hacopian skied what appeared to be a routine fly ball, but it drifted further away from Cooney until it bounced to the ground. Hacopian’s unorthodox double allowed Martin to score from first. That made it 5-3 going into the bottom of the eighth.

But Portland’s electric lefty, Tanner Douglas, closed it out. He struck out all three Maryland batters in his sole inning of work.

The Terps will look to rebound tomorrow in game two of the three-game set.