Feb. 25, 2005

Final Stats

MT. PLEASANT, S.C. - On a dreary day at Patriots Point Field, the Maryland baseball team (3-3) spotted Le Moyne College (2-2) two runs in the first inning and trailed throughout, falling by a final 5-3 margin. Maryland starter Chris Clem (0-1) was tagged with the loss in the game, but gave up just two earned runs in seven strong innings of work.

Maryland left 12 men on base in the game and had two early baserunning miscues, as it was unable to convert on some early opportunities. The bottom of the Maryland lineup was again a pleasant surprise in the loss, as the 6-through-9 hitters had all six of the Maryland hits, but the top half of the order was hitless in 17 at-bats.

LeMoyne jumped out to an early lead, using two singles, an error and a hit by pitch to score two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Le Moyne third baseman Andre Enriquez started the Dolphin scoring, grounding into a fielder's choice to plate leadoff hitter Aaron Bulkley. Enriquez grounded to second baseman Matt Maropis, who got a putout at second base, but made an errant throw attempting to turn the double play. The error scored Bulkley and advanced Enriquez to second. Bulkley would score the next at-bat on a single to left field by Mike Affronti.

Maryland cut into Dolphin lead in the top of the second on an RBI single by Brian Jarosinski. Jarosinski blooped a Bobby Blevins offering into shallow right field to score Dan Melvin from third base and pull the Terps within 2-1.

A pair of RBI from Le Moyne's Phil St. Amant extended the Dolphins' lead to 4-1 after six innings. In the fourth, a groundball out to second base by St. Amant scored Michael Affronti from third, and in the sixth, another groundball to second resulted in a fielder's choice and a run. Robert Perez broke from third base on the play and beat the tag of catcher Chad Durakis as Matt Maropis' throw was wide of home plate.

Maryland responded with runs in the seventh and eighth innings, pulling within 4-3, as Jason Von Behren and Chad Durakis each had RBI singles. Von Behren's two-out infield single brought in Dan Melvin, who had doubled to start the inning. Melvin reached on an error in the eighth and scored on Durakis' single through the left side.

Trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the ninth, a Justin Maxwell walk, an error by Le Moyne third baseman Andre Enriquez and a walk to Will Frazier loaded the bases with two outs. But Dan Melvin, who scored all three of Maryland's runs on the day, was unable to convert, popping up to center field to end the game.

Maryland will take on Towson at 11 a.m. tomorrow in the first of two meetings in the next five days. The Terps will play the host College of Charleston on Sunday at 2 p.m., before opening its home season with Towson on Wednesday and Virginia Tech next weekend.