Maryland baseball: Terps fall to Northwestern 3-2, drop series

After yesterday's stunning 1-0 loss to Northwestern, the Terps put themselves in a precarious situation: they'd need to win the remaining two games of this series, and probably two more games in the B1G to make it to the NCAA tournament.

Today's starting pitchers were Maryland's RHP Brian Shaffer (4-0, 4.97 era) vs. Northwestern's LHP Matt Portland (2-6, 4.28 ERA).

Not again!

For the second consecutive day, the Terrapins couldn't solve a pitching staff with a collective era of 5.75. Frustration mounted as the Terps' post-season hopes were slipping away.

Northwestern scored first in the bottom of the third. J R Reimer got aboard via an infield hit. With two outs, Kyle Ruchim walked, then Zach Jones singled through the box to give Northwestern a 1-0 lead. In the top half of the next inning Maryland scored two runs to put them on top. With one out, Jose Cuas and Jamal Wade both walked. Anthony Papio scorched a double to right that scored Cuas. Wade came around when the throw home was off target, with Papio going to third. Unfortunately, Papio got picked off third.

Shaffer had pitched a very good game until trouble came in the sixth inning. Three Wildcat singles tied the score, bringing in Rob Galligan. Cody Stevens poked a hit through the left side, giving Northwestern a 3-2 lead. Maryland had three more innings to pull even or take the lead. All the Terps could manage was a hit and one walk. In all, Maryland had four hits, two apiece by Kevin Smith and Anthony Papio. Portland and relief pitcher Jake Stolley combined to strike out 13 Terrapin batters.

Brian Shaffer took the loss to go to 4-1. Overall, the Terps fell to 35-20, 13-10 in the B1G.