April 30, 2006
Final Stats
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Maryland Terrapins (20-28, 7-20 ACC) dropped their series finale to the No. 13 Virginia Cavaliers, 7-5, on Senior Day at Shipley Field. Matt Maropis and Dan Melvin each went 3-for-5 and Maropis added three RBI, a run and a stolen base for Maryland, which concluded its final Atlantic Coast Conference home series of the year.
The Terps, who saw their bats come alive for the first time all weekend, scored twice in the third before tying the game up at four in the bottom of the fourth. Playing from behind most of the game, Maryland also received a strong effort from its bullpen. Righty Seth Overbey tossed three hitless innings of relief and southpaw John Dischert added a 1-2-3 ninth. Brett Tidball (3-5) was charged with the loss, yielding seven runs on eight hits in five innings.
Andrew Carraway (2-0) was credited with the win for the Cavaliers, which scored all but one of their runs with two outs. With the victory, Virginia completes the series sweep of the Terps and moves to 38-10 overall and 15-8 in the league.
Just as they had done Friday and Saturday, the Cavs jumped ahead early on. Already up 1-0 courtesy of a Brandon Guyer home run, Virginia rallied with two down in the third to take a four-run advantage. After an RBI double off the fence in center by Sean Doolittle made it 2-0, Guyer and third baseman Jeremy Farrell drove in runs on base hits to bump the lead to four.
The Terps responded in the bottom half of inning, cutting the lead in half. After singling and pulling into scoring position on a Steve Braun sacrifice bunt, Dan Benick came home on double by Maropis to give Maryland its first run of the series. Melvin followed with an RBI single to center with two away to make it a 4-2 game.
In moving Benick over to second base, Braun set a new single season Terp record for sacrifice hits with his 15th of the year. He leads the team with 13 sac bunts as well as two sacrifice flies and eclipses Larry Long, who gave himself up 14 times in 1999.
In the bottom of the fourth, Maryland tied things up thanks to a clutch two-out hit by Maropis. Designated hitter Jordan Wilson and first baseman Jason Von Behren started things off with back-to-back singles and Benick walked to load the bases. Already owning a single and double at that point, Maropis would make it 3-for-3, ripping a base hit up the middle to knot things at four.
UVA quickly regained the lead, though, collecting three runs on one swing of the bat in the fifth. With two down, David Adams walked and Guyer doubled before Farrell stepped up and slugged a three-run homer to left off Tidball to put the Wahoos ahead, 7-4.
The Cavaliers did not score again thanks to Overbey, who struck out two and walked one, and Dischert.
The Terps sent the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth but would ultimately fall short. Joe Palumbo was beaned by closer Casey Lambert and Melvin doubled to left-center to give Maryland men in scoring position with one away. One run would score on a Chad Durakis groundout to cut the Virginia lead to two before pinch hitter Jon Greenwich fouled out to first to end the game.
The Terps play host to George Washington this week on Wednesday, May 3 before heading to Chestnut Hill, Mass. to clash with Boston College in their final ACC set of 2006.
