After Maryland dropped their Big Ten opening series to Purdue, Tuesday’s midweek against Richmond served as a chance to regain some much needed momentum heading into their weekend battle at #1 UCLA.

When Devin Russell sent a moonshot over the left field wall in the sixth, it looked like Maryland had found its big swing and grabbed a big fistful of momentum in the process.

But late-game pitching plagued the Terps once more, and after Richmond’s four runs in the sixth, Maryland (11-9) couldn’t overcome a tough Richmond bullpen and fell 7-5 to the Spiders (11-10) on Tuesday in Richmond.

Things started off hot for the Terps. After back to back walks, Rylen Stockton’s sacrifice fly to left brought Brayden Martin home for the first run of the afternoon.

For the second straight midweek, freshman Nic Morlang got the start and turned in a scoreless first, despite Ryan Costello dropping a routine out in the sun to let leadoff hitter Dylan Winebrenner advance to third.

Maryland couldn’t scratch across either of their two baserunners in the second, and Richmond took advantage in the bottom half. The bottom of the Spiders’ lineup pushed across three, starting with Aidan O’Keefe’s safety squeeze that scored Sean Scanlon.

That brought up Jackson Kraemer, and the right fielder delivered from the eight-hole. He sent a two-run shot to left that gave Richmond a 3-1 lead. The home run was the first of the redshirt junior’s career in his 43rd career game.

The bats went quiet for both teams over the next three innings, with Morlang worked two scoreless frames after the big Richmond second. His day ended after 4 solid innings, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out three. He gave way to Landon Edwards, who turned in a scoreless fifth.

Maryland started off the sixth with a bang, literally — David Mendez was hit by a 3-0 fastball and stole second, advancing to third on Nate Hawton-Henley’s infield single.

With runners on the corners and one out, the nine-hitter Devin Russell stepped to the plate.

In only his fifth start of the season, the Maryland backstop delivered, depositing the first pitch he saw from Christian Dray into the left-field trees. After missing the entirety of last year, Russell’s first home run in 669 days turned a two-run deficit into a one-run lead.

But Maryland wasn’t done. Two pitches later, Jordan Crosland, back in the leadoff spot for the second straight game, doubled to deep right center and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Costello brought him in, lacing a ball into right with two outs to extend Maryland’s lead to 5-3. The RBI was Costello’s team-leading 30^th of the season, good for second in the Big Ten.

Landon Edwards had exited in a deficit, but now headed back out for his second inning of work with a cushion. After retiring the first two Spiders of the sixth, it looked like Maryland was in rhythm for the first time all game.

But things went sideways quickly. Kraemer, who homered in the second, singled to left to give Richmond a spark. After two Edwards walks loaded the bases, Dylan Winebrenner ripped a grounder just inside the third base bag to bring home two Spiders and tie the game at 5-5.

Maryland still had a chance to get out of the sixth with limited damage and a chance to retake the lead in the seventh, but Richmond’s Michael Elko had other plans. His single up the middle brought home Grant Kennedy from third and Winebrenner from second, giving Richmond a 7-5 advantage.

Elko was the last batter for Landon Edwards, whose day ended after 1.2 innings, four earned runs, three walks and one strikeout. Koshy came in and finished off the sixth.

The score after six innings ended up being the final. Maryland struggled to find more chances after their booming sixth, going down in order in both the seventh and eighth. Stockton singled with two outs in the ninth, but Paul Jones II grounded out to short to finish off Maryland’s 7-5 loss at the hands of the Spiders.

Andrew Koshy was a bright spot out of the Maryland pen – rebounding from his rough outing Friday against Purdue. He came in after Edwards and delivered a scoreless outing. Koshy allowed just two baserunners in his 2.1 innings of work.

After struggling to control games in the Purdue series, Maryland’s leads were a flash in the pan against the Spiders. Richmond’s response of four runs in the bottom of the sixth proved too much for Maryland to overcome.

Maryland recorded nine hits to Richmond’s eight, and seven out of the nine in Maryland’s lineup recorded a base hit. Crosland was the only Terp with multiple hits, and while Brayden Martin went hitless, snapping his seven-game hit streak, his walk in the first extended his on-base streak to 50 games.

Maryland left nine runners on base, with seven coming in the first four innings. Getting runners home becomes paramount in the Terps’ next series, as they travel to Los Angeles to take on the number one team in the country, the UCLA Bruins (17-2, 6-0 B1G). First pitch on Friday is at 9 p.m. eastern and Daniel Stein will be on the call for all three games for MBN.