The Maryland baseball team got off to a much better start against West Virginia on Sunday.
However, it was short lived as the Mountainers erased a 4-0 deficit and topped the Terrapins 8-5. With the loss, Maryland was eliminates from the NCAA Tournament.
First baseman Brandon Gum went 2-for-5 with three RBIs on the afternoon. He also scored a run for the Terps.
West Virginia exploded in the eighth inning four runs to take a 7-4 lead. Jimmy Galusky and Braden Zarbnisky each laced RBI singles in the inning while Jackson Cramer added an RBI double.
The Mountaineers added a run in the top half of the ninth inning to make any Terp comeback a tall task.
Reliever Ryan Selmer surrendered four runs in just a third of an inning. Jamal Wade also gave up a run in the late innings.
Maryland did have a good amount of success prior to the last three innings.
Right fielder Marty Costes got the second inning started with a bang. The Baltimore native smoked a solo home run to left center field despite facing a full count.
Maryland strikes first off the solo shot of RF Marty Costes. Terps 1-0 pic.twitter.com/OubLZVkKpd
— Mountaineers Now (@MountaineersNow) June 4, 2017
In the third inning, the Terps added to their lead.
Catcher Justin Morris, who hit a two-run home run in Saturday’s win over UMBC, worked a walk to lead off the frame. Morris ended up moving up to second base on a fielder’s choice ground out via third baseman AJ Lee.
Gum followed the ground out with a hot shot of an RBI double that dropped into the gap and plated Morris. The double gave Maryland a 2-0 lead, which was a big deal with left-handed starter Tyler Blohm cruising early on.
Blohm surrendered just one hit, but only lasted three innings. West Virginia ended up loading the bases in the fourth inning and manager John Szefc made the call to the bullpen.
Despite facing an uphill battle, reliever John Murphy really settled in and bailed out the Terps in a big way. Murphy struck out all three Mountaineer hitters that he faced, including punching out Kyle Davis and Zarbnisky to end the frame.
In the fifth inning, Gum made his presence known once again. The star first baseman ripped a two-run home run that also scored Lee and gave Maryland a commanding 4-0 lead.
West Virginia did bounce right back as they added a run of their own courtesy of an RBI ground out from Cole Austin. In the seventh inning, the Mountaineers added two more runs an RBI ground out from Galusky and an RBI single off the bat of Kevin Brophy.
Maryland’s bullpen certainly didn’t do them any favors aside from Murphy. Selmer was the biggest culprit as he surrendered four runs.
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The Terps still had a very strong season and it marked the third time in the past four seasons that they reached the NCAA Tournament.