Terps Baseball Drops Saturday Matinee to Blue Devils, 10-2
4/26/2008 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 26, 2008
DURHAM, N.C. - The University of Maryland baseball team made several sparkling defensive plays, but the bats had a difficult time against reigning ACC Pitcher of the Week Christopher Manno as the Terps dropped a 10-2 decision at Duke Saturday afternoon.
Despite the loss, the Terps (26-20, 8-15 ACC) held onto the eighth spot in the ACC as Wake Forest lost at Georgia Tech.
For the second straight game, the Terps grabbed the lead in the top of the first inning. Second baseman Steve Braun (Granada Hills, Calif./Pierce CC) doubled down the right-field line. After Dan Benick (Glen Lyon, Pa./Nanticoke) bunted Braun to third, Jensen Pupa (Germantown, Md./Northwest) plated Braun with a high chopper back to Manno.
Unfortunately for the Terps, starting pitcher Brett Tidball (Bethesda, Md./Georgetown Prep) struggled with his control in the bottom of the first. Tidball walked the first two batters and fell behind 3-1 on Blue Devils slugger Nate Freiman. Freiman got the fastball he was looking for and crushed a three-run home run to left field for a 3-1 Duke lead.
Duke (30-14-1, 7-14-1) nearly went up 4-1 in the first on a two-out single up the middle by Jake Lemmerman, but Terps center fielder Nick Jowers (Beltsville, Md./DeMatha Catholic) made a heads-up play, throwing to third and cutting down Jonathan Nicolla before the run could score.
Tidball was relieved by Mike Sufczynski (Darnestown, Md./St. John's) in the top of the second inning. Tidball walked four guys and hit a batter in one plus inning. Tidball had only walked four batters all season coming into the game.
Sufczynski struggled with his control, as well. Sufczynski allowed a walk, hit a batter and allowed an RBI single to Matt Williams in the second. However, Benick kept the game in hand with an absolutely amazing play in left field.
Jeremy Gould crushed a Sufcynski offering to left field that appeared to be a certain three-run homer all the way and a 7-1 lead. However, Benick got back to the wall and extended his glove behind the wall completely. Not until Benick's glove emerged from behind the wall and he threw the ball back into the infield did anyone realize he had mad the catch.
Down 4-1, Pupa drove in his second run of the game in the top of the fourth inning, smoking a solo home run over the right-field scoreboard to cut the deficit in half, 4-2. It was Pupa's second home run of the season.
After the Terps pitchers worked out of several jams to keep the score close, Duke finally created some breathing room for itself in the bottom of the sixth inning, getting a two-out, two-run home run from Jonathan Nicolla off reliever Ian Schwalenberg (Huntingtown, Md./Huntingtown).
The Blue Devils made it 7-2 in the bottom of the seventh on Tom Luciano's first career home run, a solo shot. However, Duke was not done, adding two more runs in the seventh on a pair of sacrifice flies to take a commanding 9-2 lead.
Luciano drove in another Duke run with an RBI single in the eighth inning.
Tidball was the losing pitcher, falling to 2-1 on the season. Manno improved to 5-0 this year, allowing two earned runs in eight innings with seven strikeouts and no walks.
Maryland will go for the series victory at 1 p.m. Sunday afternoon. Senior Kevin Biringer (Albuquerque, N.M./Bradley University) will start on the mound for the Terps against Duke's Jonathan Foreman.
-TERPS-
