April 27, 2009

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland baseball team plays a pair of non-conference games this week before making its final Atlantic Coast Conference road trip of the season on the weekend. James Madison is at Shipley Field at 4 p.m. Tuesday and the Terrapins travel to West Virginia Wednesday for a 5 p.m. matchup.

The Terps (20-24, 6-18 ACC) are coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of top-ranked North Carolina last weekend. A.J. Casario leads the Terps offensively, batting .329 with eight home runs and35 RBIs. Senior Mike Murphy is batting .312 with nine home runs and 37 RBIs.

Sophomore Eric Potter will start for the Terps Tuesday against fellow southpaw Alex Valadja. Potters is 2-2 in five starts this season while Valadja is 4-3 in nine starts.

The Dukes are 27-18 this season and enter Tuesday's matchup with 10 wins in their last 11 games and four in a row following a weekend sweep of Georgia State.

Trevor Knight and Matt Townsend lead the offensive charge for the Dukes, batting .391 and .390, respectively. Townsend is the team leader with 16 home runs, 52 RBIs and a .751 slugging percentage.

James Madison leads the all-time series, 27-20-1.

Maryland makes the trip to Morgantown, W.Va., Wednesday to face the Mountaineers. After a blistering 28-7 start to the season, West Virginia enters the week on a five-game losing skid.

Four Mountaineer batters enter the week hitting better than .380, including a pair with plus-.400 averages. Dan DiBartolomeo paces the Mountaineers with a .431 average while Vince Belnome is hitting .405 with a team-best .647 slugging percentage and 60 RBIs. Justin Parks is batting .391 and tied for the team lead with 10 home runs.

No pitching matchup has been announced. Maryland leads the all-time series with its border rival, 27-16-1.

Live radio coverage of all Maryland baseball games is available free on the Internet at WMUCSPorts.com.

-TERPS-