Maryland
Duke
Maryland Advances in ACC Baseball Tourney
6/21/1999 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 18, 1999
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) - Maryland lefthander Tom Curtiss struck out 10 batters Tuesday as the Terrapins won the Atlantic Coast Conference's play-in game with a 4-2 decision over Duke.
Curtiss (3-6) threw the best game of his career to help Maryland (22-31-1) advance into the double-elimination portion of the ACC Tournament for the first time since 1995. Maryland's Fred Weaver gave up one hit to the four Blue Devils he faced in the ninth to get his first career save.
The win snapped an eight-game losing streak for the Terrapins this year and ended their string of three consecutive losses in the play-in game.
Maryland will face top-seeded Florida State (46-10) Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The game will be televised live on Sunshine Network.
Closing its year with a fifth straight loss, Duke (24-31) suffered its earliest departure from the tournament since its 1995 loss to Maryland in the play-in game.
Duke's Stephen Cowie (8-9) took the loss despite a strong start. He struck out six and retired nine of the first 10 batters he faced, but then saw the game get away with three Terrapin runs in the fourth.
Working with a 2-0 Duke lead, Cowie gave up consective singles into centerfield to start the fourth. Maryland's Matt Swope scored on Chuck Easter's fielder's choice and then Jason Mohap's sacrifice into center field scored Casey Trout. Kevin McDonald's line drive into center drove in Easter with the winning run.
Two more singles and interference called on Duke catcher Ed Conrey in the eighth led to an insurance run for the Terps. Easter singled into center to drive in leadoff batter Eric Beer for a 4-2 margin.
Curtiss scattered three Duke hits and seven walks over eight full innings, throwing 145 pitches. He got off to a shaky start, walking Duke's first two batters and not getting his first strikeout until the third inning.
I was getting really worried for a while,'' Curtiss said. I told myself if I didn't start throwing some strikes, I wasn't going to be here much longer. As it is, I have to think this is my best game, considering what it means to the team's finally getting back into the tournament.''
Duke's two runs came on sacrifices by Kevin Kelly in the first inning to score leadoff man Vaughn Schill and by Scott Grossi in the second to drive in Ryan Caradonna.
