March 14, 2009
Box Score
RALEIGH, N.C. -
After nearly a day and a half of waiting, the University of Maryland baseball team finally took the field Saturday night at NC State, losing to its conference rival, 8-3.
The series was scheduled to begin Friday afternoon, but rain forced a scheduled doubleheader for Saturday, beginning at noon. The outlook looked doubtful a best for most of the day, but a break in the rain finally came in the evening and the teams were able to play one interrupted game, which started at 7:23 p.m.
The Terps and Wolfpack are hoping to complete the full three-game series Sunday afternoon with a doubleheader beginning at 1:30 p.m.
After the long delay, the Terps (6-8, 0-4 ACC) wasted little time getting on the scoreboard. Facing NCState's ace left-handed pitcher Jimmy Gillheeney, second baseman David Poutier legged out a one-out infield single. After advancing to second on a Gillheeney balk.
First baseman Will Greenberg then battled Gillheeney, fouling off several 3-2 offerings before finally breaking through with a looping double down the right-field line to plate Poutier. Designated hitter Jensen Pupa put Maryland up 2-0 two batters later with a sharp single through the right side of the infield, scoring Greenberg.
The Wolfpack (9-6, 1-3 ACC) got one of those runs back in the bottom half of the first via a two-out single by second baseman Kyle Wilson. However, Wilson was thrown out trying to steal second base by freshman catcher Tyler Bennett to end the rally.
Trailing 2-1 heading into the home half of the third, the Wolfpack bats quickly erased the deficit against Maryland starter Scott Swinson.
After a leadoff walk and single put runners on the corners with no outs, center fielder Devon Cartwright brought both runners home with a sizzling triple into the right-center field gap, putting State up for the first time in the game, 3-2. Left fielder Pratt Maynard quickly increased the lead to 5-2, launching a home run to right field.
Greenberg helped the Terps cut NC State's lead a little, belting a one-out triple to right-center field in the top of the sixth. Third baseman Mike Murphy drove Greenberg in with a sacrifice fly to right field. With the RBI on the sac fly, Murphy moved into a tie for 10th place in school history in career RBIs.
The Wolfpack took advantage of a couple Maryland miscues in the bottom of the eighth inning to tack on some crucial insurance runs heading into the ninth. Two runs scored on a passed ball and wild pitch, respectively, and Maynard added an RBI double to put the Wolfpack up 8-3.
Gillheeney earned his third win of the season, improving to 3-0 on the season. In 8 1/3 innings of work, Gillheeney allowed three earned runs on seven hits with five strikeouts.
Swinson took the loss, falling to 0-3 on the season, but was dominant minus the third inning. Swinson pitched a season-high 6 2/3 innings and set a new career high for strikeouts with 11.
Greenberg and Pupa each had two hits to pace Maryland.
-TERPS-
