University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Maryland
Minnesota Drops Contest to Maryland
4/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Box Score: Maryland 4, Minnesota 2 
Minnesota's six-game winning streak came to a close on Saturday afternoon in a 4-2 loss to Maryland. The Gophers (20-11, 5-2 Big Ten) were limited to just nine hits in the game.
Matt Fiedler paced the offense and extended his hitting streak to a team-best 11 games with a pair of singles on the afternoon. Micah Coffey and Toby Hanson each added an RBI single in the nine-inning defeat.
On the mound, Dalton Sawyer was tagged with the loss, despite throwing 7.0 innings with four hits, three earned runs and five strikeouts. Tim Shannon and Nick Lackey closed the final two innings of the game and limited Maryland (19-16, 5-3) to just two hits.
The Terrapins struck first in the second inning and got all the insurance they needed when they took a 3-0 lead behind two hits and a wild pitch.
The next five innings flew by as the teams were unable to change the score line and combined for just five hits because of solid pitching and outstanding defense, including Austin Athmann catching a runner trying to steal and Luke Pettersen making a tough play on a ball just blooped over the pitcher's mound.
Maryland added to its margin in the top of the eighth by scoring on a balk to make it 4-0, in favor of the road team.
The Gophers rallied for their biggest inning of the day in their next at-bat by plating two runs on four hits, all with two outs. Fiedler and Athmann laced back-to-back singles and were both brought in by RBI hits from Hanson and Coffey in the next two chances at the dish.
With the score at 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Minnesota put runners on first and second with two down, but a diving grab by the first baseman sent Maryland to its fifth win in conference action.
The Gophers and Terrapins will meet in the rubber match of the series tomorrow at Siebert Field at 1 p.m.
