March 9, 2001

Box Score

RICHMOND, Va.- Strong starting pitching and timely hitting helped lead Virginia Commonwealth to a 4-1 victory over the Maryland baseball team Friday afternoon at the Diamond in Richmond, Va.

VCU starter Sean Marshall (2-0) pitched seven strong innings, allowing just one run on seven hits, to earn his second win of the year.

Maryland starter Jared Stuart (Corning, N.Y.) held the Rams to five hits in seven innings but walked eight to drop his first decision of the season. Stuart (1-1) fanned three while yielding four runs on the day.

VCU opened the scoring with one run in the bottom of the first inning. Matt Davis led off the inning with a single and later scored on a RBI single by Joshua Arteaga.

The Rams struck again in the second with two additional runs. Stuart got himself into a jam as he walked two and hit a batter in the inning, leading to the Rams' second run. Arteaga then delivered his second RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Jose Pabon, to build the VCU lead to 3-0.

The Terps got on the board in the fourth inning when Sean Lomas (Brewster, N.Y.) smacked a double to left-center, scoring John McCurdy (Crofton, Md.), to cut the VCU lead to 3-1. McCurdy led off the inning with a single that extended his career-high hitting streak to six games.

VCU tallied another run in the bottom of the fourth to build its lead to 4-1. Stuart walked the first two batters of the inning and after a sacrifice bunt by Bryan Gillespie, Arteaga notched his third RBI of the game with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Nic Jones.

Maryland centerfielder Matt Swope (New Carrollton, Md.) went 2-for-4 with a double on the day to extend his hitting streak to nine-games, which ties a career-high. Swope also hit in nine straight last season from March 24-April 12.

The loss drops the Terrapins to 4-6 on the season while VCU improves to 9-5. Both teams will continue their three-game series tomorrow at Maryland. The action is set to begin at Shipley Field at 2 p.m.