Feb. 13, 2005

Final Stats

ROCK HILL, SC - Maryland baseball got seven strong innings from junior Ben Pfinsgraff and solo home runs from Justin Maxwell and Jordan Wilson on its way to a 2-1 win over Western Kentucky on Sunday. Brett Cecil closed out the game with two dominant relief innings, striking out the side in the ninth inning for a save in his first collegiate appearance.

Justin Maxwell gave the Terps their first lead of the season with a high, towering home run to left field in the top of the second inning. The solo shot was Maxwell's first home run of the season, and put the Terps up 1-0 through two innings.

Jordan Wilson followed in the top of the third inning with another solo shot, giving Maryland starter Ben Pfinsgraff a two-run lead. Wilson turned on an inside offering from Western Kentucky pitcher J.C. Faircloth and put it well over the left field wall for his second career home run.

The two runs proved to be enough for the Terps, with Pfinsgraff staying in control of the game with seven innings of one-run baseball. The junior righty spotted his fastball well and kept hitters off balanced with a sharp breaking ball. After putting the leadoff hitter on base in each of the first two innings, Pfinsgraff worked out of those early jams, retiring 12 straight batters at one point and giving up two hits and a run the rest of the way.

Freshman left-hander Brett Cecil relieved Pfinsgraff and protected Maryland's 2-1 lead with two shutout innings. Cecil, making his first collegiate appearance, threw 21 of his 23 pitches for strikes and struck out the side in the ninth inning to pick up his first career save.

After giving up a single up the middle to Western Kentucky pinch hitter Jordan Newton to start the bottom of the eighth, Cecil got three key outs and stranded a runner on third base.

Newton reached on a single up the middle, moved to second with a sacrifice bunt to first baseman Jordan Wilson and to third on a groundball out to shortstop Dan Melvin. With two outs and a runner on third, right fielder Truan Mehl saved the Terps' one-run lead with a diving catch on a shallow pop-up to right. Just out of reach of Wilson and second baseman Matt Maropis, Mehl charged late and sprawled out to make the grab.

In the ninth, facing Western Kentucky's 2-3-4 hitters, Cecil was nearly unhittable, striking out the side with a hard running fastball and deep, sharp breaking ball.

The 2-1 win gives the Terps a weekend split at the Coca Cola Classic, having lost to No. 28/25 Winthrop 8-0 on Saturday. The next stop on the Terps' eight-game February road trip is Wilmington, N.C. for a three-game set against UNC-Wilmington.