ORLANDO, FL – Maryland (12-9) got off to a rough start on its weekend trip to central Florida as the Terps lost the first of a three-game series to UCF (16-6) 4-2 on Friday night.
Behind a strong pitching performance from the junior right-hander Jason Savacool, the terps stayed in the game and Savacool acted on the mound. He hit a season-high 10 batters over six innings of work.
Despite an early 1-0 lead for Maryland thanks to an apparent security breach Matt Woods with Luke Schliger In third place, which turned into a colorful RBI single, the Terps relinquished the lead at the bottom of third place.
UCF hit twice in the third and hit another run in the fourth thanks to a solo home run from Nick Romano, who led the inning. Romano had things going offensively for the Knights with a three-hit game, one of two on the team with a multi-hit game.
Maryland had some offensive runs against UCF starter Ruddy Gomez as both Luke Schliger And Nick Lorusso had multi-hit games, with Lorusso extending his hitting streak to 20 games. Woods also extended his hitting streak to 10 games with his single from the first inning.
However, Gomez put on a great performance on the mound for the Knights, hitting seven and giving up two earned runs over eight innings of work.
Breakdown of the action
- Woods opened the scoring for the Terps with a colorful single, scoring third-place Shliger 1-0.
- UCF equalized at the end of the third inning with an RBI double from Brait. The Knights took a 2-1 lead in the next at-bat through an infield error.
- Romano homerted to left field to extend UCF’s lead to 1-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning.
- Shliger got one for the terps in the top of the fifth with a solo home run of his own, 2-3.
- UCF doubled their lead with an RBI single from Sundean at the bottom of eighth, 2-4.
- Maryland Reliever Tommy Kane comes out of a base-loaded jam with two downs at the end of the eighth to keep the terps alive, 2-4.
According to the numbers
- 10: The total number of strikethroughs for Jason Savacoola seasonal high.
- 10: Number of consecutive games with a hit for Matt Woods after recording a hit on Friday. He’s now hitting .410 (16-for-39) during his current hitting streak.
- 20: Number of consecutive games with a goal for Lorusso.
Next
- The Terps and Knights continue their weekend streak Saturday at 6 p.m. EST in Orlando. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and the Maryland Baseball Network.
