In the series opener, right-handed pitcher Christofer Cespedes was given the starting nod for the first time in his career after sophomore righty Logan Hastings came down with an illness  just hours before first pitch.

Cespedes delivered one of the best pitching performances the Terps have seen all year in his spot start, yet the Terps bats couldn’t seem to figure it out, especially when it mattered most.

A solo home run in the 10th inning was all Michigan (28-17, 13-9) needed to take down Maryland (22-24, 6-16) in Game 1, 2-1.

Things hadn’t seemed to go the Cespedes’ way in his first 18 appearances of the year, posting a 5.79 ERA over 32.2 innings pitched. 

That wasn’t the case Friday though, as the sophomore seemed to have it all figured out to begin his night. Cespedes got through his first five innings without allowing a hit. He held the Wolverines scoreless while walking two and striking out three.

However, it was a pitching duel. 

Michigan’s ace Kurt Barr was keeping the Terps’ bats quiet as well.

Maryland put a runner on second in both the second and fourth innings, but repeated strikeouts led to missed opportunities.

Neither team was able to get on the scoreboard until the sixth inning.

After Cespedes loaded the bases with one out, he would get the inning ending double play. However, Michigan still scored in the process. 

First baseman Ryan Costello tagged the bag at first before throwing to second baseman David Mendez who tagged out the runner going to second. In between the two outs, Michigan’s Drew Culbertson scored to give the Wolverines a 1-0 lead.

They were able to provide an immediate response in the bottom of the frame. 

After junior Brayden Martin reached second on an error and freshman Bud Coombs walked, the pair would each advance on a successful double steal. With a runner on third for the first time of the evening, Mendez quickly capitalized, putting a groundball in play that allowed Martin to score.

Michigan pulled Barr after giving up his first run of the day and sent righty Gavin DeVooght to the mound to prevent any further damage.

DeVooght did exactly that as the Terps struck out to strand a runner in scoring position yet again.

Head coach Matt Swope sent out sophomore right-hander pitcher Lance Williams to start the seventh, ending Cespedes’ day.

Cespedes’ first career start would be a quality one as he finished with six innings pitched and three strikeouts while only allowing one run on one hit and three walks.

“Best start of the year by far,” Swope said. “Just, like, tremendous, on short notice like that, just pitched on Tuesday for him to come out and give us that start like we just have to win that game.”

Williams came out of the pen firing as the sophomore quickly picked up three swinging strikeouts to strike out the side. 

While Maryland was set down in order in both the seventh and eighth innings, Williams continued to rack up Ks. 

After pitching through the ninth, the sophomore had eight strikeouts through three innings pitched. His dominance was just what the Terps needed for their best chance at a walk-off victory.

Maryland looked to have the momentum it needed in the ninth after Mendez leadoff with a single, but a double play hit into by Paul Jones and a long flyout from Ty Kaunas seemingly squashed it.

“We had several situations where we could have tried to move a guy with a bunt, tried to do some different things,” Swope said. “That’s today, the offense has to execute a little bit and win the game.”

Williams’ first costly mistake came in the tenth, a mistake that the Terps couldn’t make up for.

Williams gave up a leadoff moonshot to Joonsung Park to give the Wolverines the only run they needed. The solo homer was Park’s first of the year in only his 13th game played.

“I thought Lance obviously did a great job behind (Cespedes), and just that one homer was the difference right there,” said Swope.

Devooght set down the Terps 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning to cap off a disappointing night for the Terps.

The Terps will take on Michigan in Game 2 tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. Tune into MBN’s broadcast where Ryan Martin and Peter Kelly will have the coverage for you.