Maryland
James Madison
Terps Beat JMU, 6-5, Snap Nation's Longest Win Streak
3/22/2006 7:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 22, 2006
HARRISONBURG, Va. - The Maryland Terrapins beat James Madison, 6-5, on Wednesday at Mauck Stadium, snapping the Dukes' 16-game winning streak. Nick Jowers went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI and six different pitchers appeared for the Terps (9-13), as Maryland halted the longest active win streak in the country.
Prior to today, the last time the Dukes lost a game was back on Feb. 23, a 4-1 defeat by George Washington. The Terps' sixth one-run win of the season gives the team some much-needed momentum as they head into a three-game series against Miami this weekend in College Park.
For Maryland, John Dischert (3-1) allowed no earned runs in 2.0 innings of relief to pick up the win and left-hander Brett Cecil came on in the ninth to record the save. At the plate, Jowers finished a homer shy of the cycle and Matt Maropis went 2-for-4 with two runs driven in.
James Madison made a bid to tie the game up in the bottom of the ninth, placing runners on first and second with one down. But Cecil got the next two hitters to fly out, sealing the Maryland victory.
The Terps opened the scoring in the top of the second. Third baseman Dan Melvin drew a leadoff walk and scored all the way from first on a double down the left field line by Chad Durakis. Steve Braun singled up the middle and stole second base, giving Maryland two runners in scoring position for Jowers. On a 2-2 pitch from starter Bobby Lasko, the center fielder from Beltsville, Md. smacked a triple to the gap in left-center, plating Durakis and Braun to put the Terps up, 3-0. After driving Jowers in on a base hit to center, leftfielder Wink Nolan stole second and moved to third when the throw from the catcher skipped into the outfield. A two-out single through the right side by Matt Maropis would score Nolan as the Terp claimed a five-run advantage over James Madison early on.
The Dukes would cut into the lead on back-to-back home runs in the third inning. With two away and a man on second base, Kellen Kulbacki homered to center to get JMU on the scoreboard. The next batter, second baseman Michael Cowgill, sent a pitch from starter Mike Sufczynski to almost the same spot amongst the trees beyond the center field fence to make it 5-3, Terps.
Sufczynski escaped some trouble in the fourth thanks to heady defense by the Terrapins. With runners on first and second, designated hitter Nate Schill sent a hard groundball towards the left side of the diamond. Diving to his right, Braun fielded the ball and alertly threw over to third base to get Brett Sellers, who had already rounded the bag thinking the ball had reached the outfield, for the first out of the inning. Sufczynski got the next batter to ground into an inning-ending double play as he dodged potential damage by the Duke bats.
After seeing their lead cut to one by JMU in the sixth, the Terps responded in the top of the seventh. Jowers led off with a double and Nolan was hit by a Jacob Cook offering while squaring around to bunt. Both runners moved up a base on a sacrifice bunt by second baseman Joe Palumbo setting up Jowers to score on a groundout to short by Matt Maropis, bumping the Maryland lead back to two at 6-4.
JMU came back in the bottom of the inning to shrink the advantage back to one. Pinch hitter Brett Garner led off with an infield single off Dischert, prompting Maryland to bring in right-hander Kevin Biringer. Before he would even throw a pitch, Biringer attempted to pick off pinch runner Rob Altieri. But the sophomore's throw to first was low and rolled all the way to the fence in foul territory, allowing the runner to move around to third base. Matt Bristow brought the run in on a deep sacrifice fly to right, making it a one-run ballgame at 6-5.
