A Rutgers base runner lingered on first with one out in the bottom of the top of the fourth inning in Friday’s contest between Maryland and the Scarlet Knights. The Terps’ defense had held steady, but that abruptly changed. 

Rutgers junior JT Thompson sliced a ground ball to Maryland third baseman Brayden Martin. On the slick turf, the ball skipped off Martin’s glove, as the Terps potentially missed out on an inning-ending double play. 

The Scarlet Knights (28-26, 15-14 Big Ten) followed the error with four consecutive hits to score just as many runs — their biggest offensive inning of the night. The Terps played from behind from there on out, eventually losing 9-4 as any hope of making the Big Ten tournament officially ceased. 

Friday’s pregame activities were abnormally eventful for Maryland (26-29, 11-18 Big Ten).

It seemed the Terps were eliminated from Big Ten tournament contention after Northwestern defeated No. 14 UCLA a little over an hour after the Terps fell to Rutgers 6-4 on Thursday. Though a few hours before Friday’s first pitch, the conference resurrected Maryland’s hopes when it announced that the Dirty Terps were still mathematically alive. 

That positive news was ironically followed by ugly weather. Isolated thunderstorms started popping up around College Park an hour before the originally scheduled 6 p.m. first pitch. An obscene amount of water rained down on “The Bob” in spurts over the next hour-plus, flooding both dugouts and delaying the start until 7 p.m. 

Despite the pooling water, play began on time, and Maryland ace Kyle McCoy delivered a mostly clean first frame.  

Trevor Cohen delivered the game’s first notable knock with a two-out double in the opening inning. It served as Cohen’s 83rd hit of the campaign, which tied a Big Ten record. McCoy stranded Cohen in scoring position, though, before working around another base runner in the second.  

Making his sixth consecutive start, freshman Paul Jones II prolonged his seven-game hitting streak with a line-drive homer over the right field fence — a two-run blast that brought Alex Calarco around from first. 

But the Scarlet Knights immediately answered, as an unfortunate theme started for McCoy in the third. 

The left-hander got two quick outs to start the frame, before giving up back-to-back hits — the second of which was a record-setting double by Cohen, which put two Scarlet Knights in scoring position. Peyton Bonds plated both runners with a single to right. 

McCoy got another fast out to start the fourth inning, before the Scarlet Knights jumped him once more. They ultimately plated four runs in a nightmarish frame for the Terps. McCoy eventually worked his way out of trouble, but Rutgers left the half inning with a 6-2 lead. 

Leading off the bottom of the fourth, Calarco pulled the Terps within three after hammering a solo home run to left center field. 

McCoy returned to the mound in the fifth for potentially his final inning in a Maryland uniform. He delivered a scoreless frame despite some traffic, and finished with five innings pitched, 11 hits, six runs (five earned), and just one strikeout. 

Rutgers plated a pair in the sixth against Maryland’s bullpen, extending its lead to 8-3. The Terps answered, but equally left some to be desired in the bottom half of the inning.   

As they had earlier in the game, Calarco and Jones teamed up to plate a run in the bottom of the sixth. A hobbled Hollis Porter singled to reach base. Calarco then doubled to put Porter at third, before Jones brought Porter across on a groundout.   

A pair of walks then loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the sixth, but reliever Matthew Cruz induced a pop-out to escape the frame. That was the closest the Terps would come to threatening Rutgers’ lead. 

The Scarlet Knights also answered Jones’ RBI with a run of their own, pushing Maryland’s deficit back to five. That’s where it remained, as relievers Luke Fithian and Andrew Rondini held Maryland scoreless over the final three frames. 

The Terps will hold their Senior Day ahead of Saturday’s 1 p.m. series finale, and MBN will essentially do the same. Senior broadcasters Jack Susanin and Oliver Schaack will each be on the call one final time for MBN.