May 11, 2005

Final Stats

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Maryland baseball overcame a 5-1 sixth-inning deficit with seven unanswered runs in its final three at-bats to beat Longwood, 8-5, in its final game of the 2005 regular season on Wednesday evening. Will Frazier hit a game-winning solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning, and the Maryland bullpen tandem of Seth Overbey and Michael Meagher held the Lancers to just two hits and no runs over the final three innings to preserve the Terrapin lead. With the win, Maryland closes the season with an overall record of 24-30, while Longwood falls to 15-29.

Brett Cecil started the game and got a no-decision after giving up two earned runs on two hits and two walks in four innings. Longwood struck for three runs (two earned) in the first inning, but Cecil settled down with three hitless and scoreless innings the rest of the way.

Overbey lowered his ERA to 2.53 over his last eight appearances with two scoreless innings. Overbey has allowed just one extra-base hit over that span of 10.2 innings, after allowing 10 in his first 11.1 innings of the season.

The Maryland offense used a balanced attack to do its damage, as eight different Terps had hits, eight scored runs and six collected RBI. Elliot Singletary had a big day, tying a career-high with four hits, including his sixth home run and 25th double of the season. Singletary, already second on Maryland's single-season doubles list with 25, moved into a tie for seventh place on the single-season extra-base hits list with 32.

Truan Mehl also moved up on a couple of Maryland single-season lists with a 1-for-5 day. The hit moved his season total to 80, good for eighth place, and his five at-bats gave him 231, the third-most ever in a single season.

Chad Durakis went 3-for-3 with a walk, run scored and RBI. Brian Jarosinski and Bobby Ryan were each 2-for-3 with a walk and a run, and Jarosinski drove in his 16th run of the season.

Longwood scored three first-inning runs to jump out to an early lead in the game. The Lancers loaded the bases behind with a leadoff double and a couple of hit-by-pitches, and third baseman Danny McCraw plated the first run of the inning with an RBI fielder's choice to first base. Tyler Childress scored on a passed ball, and Nick von Gersdorff singled in a run to cap the Longwood scoring.

Maryland got a run back in the bottom of the third with an RBI single by Chad Durakis, one of his three hits on the day. Truan Mehl reached base on an opposite-field single into left-center field and came around to score on Durakis' 26th RBI of the season.

Longwood tacked on another two runs in the top of the sixth inning, but Maryland fought back to tie with a four-run inning of its own. Chad Durakis tripled into center field and scored on a Jordan Wilson groundout to start the scoring, and Brian Jarosinski (walk) and Bobby Ryan (single) reached base to force a pitching change. Lancer reliever Brian McCullough came on to face second baseman Joe Palumbo, and Palumbo lined a 2-2 McCullough offering into right-center field for a two-run double. Elliot Singletary, the conference's doubles leader, followed with a double off the left field wall to tie the game up at 5-5.

After Seth Overbey worked a scoreless Longwood seventh, Will Frazier needed just three pitches to break the 5-5 tie and give the Terps a 6-5 lead. Frazier unloaded on a 1-1 offering from Chris Balus and sent it well over the left field wall for his second home run in two days, 10th of the season and 35th of his career. Brian Jarosinski later singled in pinch runner Nick Jowers to give the Terps a 7-5 lead.

Elliot Singletary tacked on another solo homer to lead off the eighth inning to push the Maryland lead to 8-5, and Michael Meagher closed the door with a scoreless ninth for his fourth save of the season.

The Terps now have nearly two weeks off before heading to Jacksonville, Fla. for the 2005 ACC Tournament (May 24-29). With two weeks left in the conference season, seedings are still up for grabs, but Maryland, Virginia Tech and Duke are all locked into the play-in situation. The bottom four seeds in the conference standings have to play two games on the first day of the tournament for the right to play the number one seed.