Maryland Baseball Plays Host to Duke this Weekend
4/16/2009 8:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 16, 2009
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland baseball team is home at Shipley Field this weekend for a three-game series with Atlantic Coast Conference rival Duke.
The first game of the series begins Friday at 7 p.m. with junior Scott Swinson taking the mound for the Terps (16-20, 4-14 ACC) in search of his first win against an ACC opponent this season. Swinson will duel with Duke's Andrew Wolcott, who owns the best ERA in the ACC at 2.18.
Sophomore Brett Harman will start for the Terps in the second game of the series, scheduled for 4 p.m. Saturday. Harman, who ranks fifth in the ACC in strikeouts, will take on southpaw Christopher Manno of Duke.
The series concludes at 1 p.m. Sunday. Senior Brett Jones will make his third start of the season for the Terps. A Duke (26-13, 9-9 ACC) starter has not been announced.
Maryland is led offensively by junior A.J. Casario and senior Mike Murphy. Casario leads the team in batting average, runs, doubles and on-base percentage. Murphy paces the Terps in home runs, RBIs and slugging percentage.
Duke enters the game on a four-game winning streak, including the final two games of last weekend's crucial series against NC State. At 9-9 in the ACC, the Blue Devils currently own the eighth and final spot in the ACC Tournament pecking order with less than a month left in the regular season.
The Terps lead the all-time series with the Blue Devils, 78-71-1. Duke has taken two of three the last two seasons in Durham, N.C. The teams have not played a series at Shipley Field since 2004, when Duke won two of the three contests.
Junior David Poutier enters the weekend on a 10-game hitting streak for the Terps.
Live radio coverage of all Maryland baseball games is available free on the Internet at WMUCSports.com.
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