Maryland baseball falls to Indiana in rain-shortened series finale

Maryland baseball dropped its weekend series finale to Indiana on Sunday, as a go-ahead grand slam from Craig Dedelow proved to be the difference in Indiana’s 6-3 win.

Taylor Bloom allowed two runs in six innings, but Dedelow’s slam in the seventh against Ryan Selmer put the Hoosiers in front. The Terps’ travel curfew meant a new inning could not start after 2:35 p.m., and a weather delay in the seventh ultimately cut the game short.

Maryland started strong, scoring in the top of the first inning off a fielder’s choice from Nick Dunn. Zach Jancarski led off the game with a double, and came around on the fielder’s choice.

The Hoosiers tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the second as Dedelow hit his 10th home run of the season, Indiana’s 50th home run as a team this season.

The game remained tied until the top of the fourth, when the Terps took the lead off a Kevin Smith two-run home run, his eighth of the season, putting Maryland up 3-1.

Indiana closed the gap to 3-2 in the fifth when Jeremy Houston led off the bottom half of the inning with a solo home run to straight-away left field. The Hoosiers had a chance for more, but Alex Krupa was denied in left-center field by an incredible diving catch from Jancarski.

Bloom was taken out after six innings, where he struck out seven Indiana batters. Selmer came on in relief and quickly retired the first two Hoosiers in the inning before Indiana loaded the bases. With the rain pouring down, Dedelow hit his second home run of the day, a grand slam just under the scoreboard in left field, to put Indiana up 6-3. Both teams almost engaged in a brawl around home plate as Indiana’s first base coach had some words for the Maryland bench as Dedelow rounded third after the home run.

Shortly after, the game went into a rain/lightning delay, which was to Maryland’s disadvantage. Their scheduled flight to BWI around 5 p.m. on Sunday forced the game to be played earlier. As a result, a new inning couldn’t be started after 2:35 p.m.

The game restarted at 2:22 p.m. with two outs in the bottom of the seventh. Jamal Wade retired the first Indiana batter he saw to give Maryland life in the eighth. But the Terps weren’t able to muster any offense in the top of the inning, other than a Brandon Gum walk. The game was called in the bottom of the inning after Wade walked the first batter of the inning.

Selmer was tagged with the loss, his first of the season, Bloom getting the no decision. B.J. Sabol got the win for Indiana, improving his record to 3-2. With the loss, the Terps have now dropped their last two weekend series away from home and are 7-10 on the road overall.

The Terps will now travel back to Maryland for a midweek game against Towson at Leidos Field in Aberdeen before traveling to Champaign for a weekend series against Illinois.