Maryland baseball falls to Coastal Carolina 16-0 after early collapse

After Maryland baseball left two runners on base in the third inning with the game still notched at zero, Coastal Carolina did what the Terps couldn’t.

Freshman Makenzie Pate of Coastal Carolina smacked one to deep left field off Maryland pitcher Sean Fisher and it sailed over the wall for a two-run home run to break open the scoring in the bottom of the third inning.

Next up, Coastal Carolina senior Scott McKeon followed suit with a solo home run of his own towards the same left field wall to make it 3-0. Catcher Alex Gattinelli then doubled down the left field line off of Fisher, which brought in another Chanticleer home to push the lead to four.

Maryland surrendered seven runs on six hits in the third inning and the Chanticleers held onto the lead all afternoon and defeated the Terps 16-0 on Friday for their second loss of the season.

Junior catcher Justin Vought stood at the plate with a chance to open up the scoring for Maryland in the top of the third.

With two runners on and two outs after a Tucker Flint walk and a Maxwell Costes single to left field, Vought hit an innocent pop up for the final out of the inning. Once again, the Terps finished an inning with runners left on base.

Maryland struggled to capitalize on its early opportunities, leaving a total of five runners left on base in the first three innings.

After letting up another run in the bottom of the fourth, Maryland head coach Rob Vaughn pulled Fisher to stop the onslaught. The junior conceded 10 hits and six earned runs in 3.0 innings of work in his first loss of the season.

The Terps were just 1-for-14 at the plate compared to 12 total hits for the Coastal Carolina ball club through four innings.

Maryland stayed quiet in the top of the fourth, going down one-two-three. The same could not be said of Coastal Carolina.

After chasing Fisher, the Chanticleers continued the downpour and combined for five hits and six runs on Maryland right-handed relief pitcher Trevor LaBonte. A Tanner Garrison single to left center field to bring in two runs put the exclamation on the inning for Coastal Carolina as it ended the fourthup 13-0.

The Chanticleers continued to run up the score on the Terps, scoring one in the fifth and two more in the eighth to push the lead to 16-0.

For the duration of the game, the Terps were unable to generate anything offensively against the Coastal Carolina pitching staff and ended up leaving seven runners on base.

Maryland only had just two players collect hits after the sixth inning, and Costes was the only Terp to record multiple hits with two singles on the afternoon.

The Chanticleers went on to shut out the Terps after letting up just four hits in 30 at-bats. Maryland had scored no less than three runs in its first seven games.

Maryland will face Coastal Carolina again for the second game of the three game series on Saturday.

Three things to know

1. Fisher struggled for the first time this season. The left-handed pitcher found success in his first two starts, going for 11.2 innings with just one earned run. However, Fisher’s recent formula for success couldn’t be seen on the mound on Friday. The junior went just 3.0 innings and accumulated six earned runs against Coastal Carolina. Fisher struggled with ball placement throughout, and the Chanticleers capitalized.

2. Vought exits the game with an injury. Catcher Justin Vought went down with an injury in the bottom of the fifth and walked into the dugout under his own power. Redshirt junior Tavan Shahidi replaced Vought for the rest of the game.

This injury could spell danger for the Terps if Vought misses an extended period of time. The catcher usually slots in fifth in the batting order and will be a big bat that needs to be replaced. Vought is hitting .211 on the season and has driven in three RBIs.

3. Costes continues success offensively. Sophomore Maxwell Costes was one of the only Terps to have a decent day at the plate after going 2-for-3. Costes hit two of Maryland’s first three hits as the Terps struggled to get anything going on the afternoon. Costes improved his batting average to .458 on the season and has upped his hitting total to 11 through eight games.