March 11, 2001
Box Score
COLLEGE PARK, Md.- For the second straight day, catcher Kevin McDonald (Rockaway, N.J.) hit a homerun, but the outcome was still the same as the Maryland baseball team lost to Virginia Commonwealth, 9-7, Sunday afternoon at Shipley Field. McDonald slammed two homers on the day as he went 3-for-5 with two RBI.
The wild affair started off with the Rams scoring one in the first and two in the second before the Terps got on the board. In the second, it was McDonald's first homer of the day, a solo shot to center, to close the VCU lead to 3-1.
The New Jersey native was back at it again in the fourth, sending his second homerun of the game over the leftfield fence, to cut the Maryland deficit to 3-2. The two-homerun game was the first for a Maryland player since Sean Lomas (Brewster, N.Y.) hit two last season against NC State on May 7. McDonald now leads the Terps with four homers on the year and has a career-best eight-game hitting streak.
VCU would respond with three runs in the fifth to build its lead back up to 6-2. A two-run homer from Danny Lopaze was the big hit in the inning along with a sacrifice fly off the bat of Joshua Arteaga. The sacrifice fly was a costly one for the Terrapins as third baseman Steve Oursler (Clinton, Md.) collided with leftfielder Brian Patenaude (Marietta, Ga.) and was injured on the play. Oursler was struck with an accidental elbow to the mouth from Patenaude and did not return. His status for Tuesday's game at James Madison is day-to-day.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Terrapins put two more runs on the board to close the VCU lead to 6-4. Centerfielder Matt Swope (New Carrollton, Md.) got things started with a homer to left, to extend his career-high hitting streak to 11 games. Later in the inning, Chuck Easter (Baltimore, Md.) delivered a double and scored on a RBI single off the bat of John McCurdy (Crofton, Md.).
Maryland tied things up in the sixth by scoring two more runs. Swope knocked in his second run of the day, scoring Daryl Whitmer (Waldorf, Md.), on a single to center. Patenaude then followed with a RBI single of his own, scoring Swope, to tie the game at six.
VCU took the lead for good with a pair of runs in the seventh. A two-RBI single of the bat of catcher Cory Bauswell gave the Rams a 8-6 advantage.
Maryland would score one in the eighth to pull to 8-7, but the Rams added insurance run in the ninth, to close out the scoring.
Doug Estep (1-0) pitched 1.2 innings to pick up his first win of the season while Mike Dallmeyer (Enola, Pa.) was the tough-luck loser for the Terps. Dallmeyer (0-4) threw 3.2 innings, allowing just one earned run, to earn the loss.
The defeat drops the Terps to 4-8 while the Rams improve to 11-5. Maryland is back in action Tuesday (March 13) at James Madison. The action is set to begin at 3 p.m.
