It had been 284 days since Maryland last played a regular season game at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium. That finally ended on Tuesday afternoon, as the Terps welcomed neighboring Delaware to College Park in a game that was rescheduled from Feb. 18. 

Maryland fans were out in force to welcome the Terps back on a beautiful 60-degree day, but the afternoon turned ugly. The contest was understandably close in the early going, but Delaware’s offense hammered out back-to-back four-run innings in the fifth and sixth. 

Maryland nearly drew shades of its “Cardiac Terps” nickname, but a furious late-inning comeback ultimately fell a few runs short. The Terps lost for the third time in the past four games, falling to Delaware 13-10 in a disappointing home opener. 

Despite a respectable showing from highly touted freshman Jake Yeager in his first career start, Tuesday’s scoreline built upon Maryland’s prior pitching concerns. The Terps have now allowed double-digit runs in three consecutive games.  

“You obviously like scoring runs, but if you can’t play all three phases, it doesn’t matter,” head coach Matt Swope said. “The offense has done fine, I’m proud of the way they battled today and Sunday, but if you’re down 11-3, it really doesn’t matter.”

The Blue Hens (2-5) offense didn’t waste time on Tuesday. 

Senior Aaron Graeber sent a Yeager offering over the left centerfield wall as Delaware took a quick advantage. In the next inning, a similar result saw junior LT Cockrill blast one to right center. Cockrill’s homer was of the two-run variety and gave the Blue Hens a 3-0 lead after an inning and a half.

The Terps (3-4) remained unphased, though. 

On the first pitch in the bottom of the second, senior Alex Calarco smacked his sixth home run of the young season, tying New Mexico State’s Sheehan O’Conner for the most long balls in the country.

Maryland’s offense stayed persistent. A walk by sophomore Liam Willson and a single by freshman Parker Corbin put two on for program veteran Elijah Lambros. The senior smacked a ground ball into left field, bringing both runners home to tie the game. 

Yeager soon settled in with the score leveled. Starting at the end of the second inning, Yeager retired seven straight Blue Hens — a stretch that included four strikeouts. 

Swope kept his freshman on the mound for the fifth, but after two walks and a throwing error, the Terps’ skipper called upon his bullpen. Yeager impressively worked around the early trouble, finishing his day with four earned runs over 4+ innings pitched. He added six strikeouts, to three walks, and three hits. 

“I think he bounced back after the home runs,” Swope said of Yeager. “But collectively, we’ve got to work ahead.”

Swope turned to graduate reliever Devin Milberg in place of Yeager, and the game quickly spiraled. 

Milburg’s outing was very short-lived. He surrendered an RBI double and a walk, prompting Swope to turn to his bullpen again. With men on second and third and no outs, Swope brought in senior Ryan Van Buren to stop the bleeding, but he didn’t deliver. 

Van Buren remained in until the end of the sixth after the Blue Hens had used consecutive four-run innings to take an 11-3 lead. That scoring primarily came off the bats of senior Andrew Amato and the aforementioned Graeber. The former hit a three-run shot, while the latter collected his second solo home run of the day. 

The Terps finally got back on the board in the seventh inning when Eddie Hacopian plated Lambros on a double. However, the Terps could only get that one run across. 

With the game nearing its latter stages, the Terps desperately needed a big inning if they wanted a shot at winning. They got exactly that in the eighth inning, as the offense exploded for six runs. 

It began with a two-run shot from VCU transfer Aden Hill — his first home run in a Maryland uniform. After the Terps drew three straight walks, Chris Hacopian delivered in the clutch once more. The sophomore smacked a line drive into left center, clearing the bases and pulling the Terps within one run entering the ninth.

Freshman Logan Hastings replaced Van Buren entering the seventh inning. Hastings had an impressive day, blanking the Blue Hens in both the seventh and eighth innings. 

With his pitch count climbing, though, Hastings ran into some ninth-inning trouble. He surrendered a run and loaded the bases before Swope made his final call to pen. 

Graduate transfer Jack Wren came in to keep the comeback bid within realistic distance. He gave up a run-scoring walk, but the Marist transfer also managed a massive strikeout to escape the inning. Maryland trailed by three heading into the ninth.

The Dirty Terps earned the nickname “Cardiac Terps” thanks to a handful of comebacks last season.

Maryland had a massive opportunity to carry that identity into 2025, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case on Tuesday night. The Terps failed to score in the bottom of the ninth, losing their first game against the Blue Hens since 2022. 

Maryland will now look ahead to four games this weekend — a pair against Princeton and an additional two versus Wake Forest — in Winston-Salem. Nate Schwartz and Oliver Schaack will be on the headset all weekend long for MBN.