April 19, 2008
Box Score
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
For the second straight game, the University of Maryland baseball team conjured up some late-inning magic to defeat No. 21 Georgia Tech. Maryland trailed Georgia Tech 13-5 heading into the bottom of the seventh inning Saturday evening at Shipley Field, but the Terps fought back with nine runs in the last three innings to beat the Yellow Jackets, 14-13, on a two-run, Joe Palumbo single.
The Terps (24-17, 7-13) scored four times in the bottom of the eighth to make it a two-run game heading into the ninth, but faced a daunting task once there with Yellow Jackets closer Chris Hicks taking the mound.
After retiring the first batter of the inning, Hicks hit Gerry Spessard (Hagerstown, Md./Smithsburg) and allowed a single to Bill Rice (Washington Township, N.J./Washington Township) to bring the winning run to the plate.
Last night's hero, sophomore AJ Casario (Pine Hill, N.J./Overbrook), continued his hot hitting with an RBI single to right field, scoring pinch runner Mike Rozak (Darnestown, Md./St. John's) and putting the tying run in scoring position.
Curtis Lazar (Stafford, Va./Mountain View) then loaded the bases with a pinch-hit, bloop single to left field to load the bases and put the winning run at second in the person of Casario.
Palumbo (Bowie, Md./DeMatha Catholic) wasted no time playing the hero's role, perfectly placing Hicks' first pitch into right field, scoring Rice with the tying run and Casario with the winning run as the Terps exploded out of the dugout to celebrate their first one-run victory in ACC play this season.
The victory was Maryland's 24th of the season, surpassing the last two years' totals and tying last year's mark with seven ACC wins. The win also clinched the series for Maryland, its first against a ranked team since taking two of three from No. 6 Clemson last season.
The Terps jumped all over the Jackets (27-12, 9-11) in the bottom of the first against starter Eddie Burns.
Will Greenberg (Gaithersburg, Md./Washington College) delivered the first two of his career-high four RBIs in the game with a mammoth two-run home run to right. The Terps added a third run in the inning on a Spessard sacrifice fly.
However, the Jackets followed with 10 unanswered runs and 13 of the next 15 to grab the 13-5 lead. The Jackets hit two home runs in that span.
Maryland scored at least one run in each of the last five innings en route to the come-from-behind win.
Mike Murphy (Silver Spring, Md./Georgetown Prep) hit a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth, his 10th of the season, the first Terp to hit double-digit home runs in a season since Will Frazier in 2005.
Maryland added two in the seventh on a Jensen Pupa (Germantown, Md./Nnorthwest) RBI fielder's choice and a throwing error.
For the second consecutive night, the Terps scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth.
Spessard led off with a triple to dead-center field, the ninth of his career and the new school record.
Casario drove him in two batters later with an RBI single. With two outs and the bases loaded, Tech brought in left-handed pitcher Kevin Jacob to face Greenberg. Greenberg singled to left field and all three runners on base came around to score when left fielder Jay Dantzler let the ball get through his legs and to the warning track, cutting the deficit to 13-11.
The Yellow Jackets had a chance to add some insurance runs in the ninth, but relief pitcher Adam Kolarek (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) came in to get the third out.
Kolarek earned the win, upping his record to 2-1 on the season. Hicks fell to 0-3 on the season with the loss.
The Terps will go for the clean sweep at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow, a nationally-televised game on CBS College Sports. Kevin Biringer (Albuquerque, N.M./Bradley University) will start for Maryland against Zach Von Tersch.
-TERPS-
