Five of the last six meetings between Michigan State Baseball and Maryland have been decided by one run; Friday night’s game one was far from that type of shootout.

MSU, 14-24 (8-13) gave an efforted performance, but the firepower behind the Maryland bats was too much to overcome as the Spartans lost 18-10 for their third-straight loss.

The offense was unavoidable in the near-four-hour contest. It was the most runs for the Terapins squad in almost a month. With a 6-13 conference mark, Maryland ranks fourteenth in the Big Ten but ranks top five in the conference in hits, runs, RBIs and OPS which was in full effect as they dismantled six Spartan pitchers. 

MSU cut the Maryland lead to one in the sixth inning, but with a third of the game left and the sun setting, the Terps’ best bats were still well awake.

The game was another instance of MSU falling behind early and failing to mount the necessary comeback. MSU head coach Jake Boss Jr. said, “It was a disaster.”

“We hit the first batter of the game, and it only got worse from there,” Boss said. “We walked too many guys. We hit too many guys. We gave up 17 hits and 18 runs. It's no way to win a ball game.”

The Spartans are right on the cusp of another trip to the Big Ten Tournament after losing in the first round on a walk off to the eventual champion Nebraska last season. MSU is on the last line of the 12-team tournament championship in Omaha and holds a 1.5 game lead over Indiana in 13th. 

Holding MSU back from a higher spot in the standings is a conference worst offense. The Spartans rank last in the Big Ten in hits, runs, batting average, OPS, RBIs and OBP. The final result of this game was foreseen from the beginning. 

MSU will give Maryland another go Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m. at McLane Stadium while streaming on Big Ten Plus.