April 28, 2009
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
The Terrapins set season highs in runs, home runs and doubles against the James Madison Dukes Tuesday afternoon at Shipley Field and the University of Maryland baseball scored the final 16 runs of the game to overcome an early 10-1 deficit en route to a 17-10 victory.
The Terps (21-24) hit four home runs and seven doubles on the way to their 17-run outburst, Second baseman David Poutier drove in a career-high five runs, going 3-for-5 with a homer and two doubles. Freshman catcher Tyler Bennett had a career day as well, going 3-for-5 with a two-run homer and career-high four RBIs. Senior Will Greenberg added a pair of doubles and three RBIs.
The Dukes (27-19) got to work right away against Maryland starting pitcher Eric Potter. Alex Foltz drove the first pitch of the game into the left-center field gap for a double and David Herbek drove him in two batters later with an RBI double down the left-field line. Herbek later scored on a sacrifice fly and Matt Browning gave the Dukes an early 3-0 lead with a two-out homer to left-center field.
Bennett delivered an RBI single in the bottom of the second to get the Terps within two at 3-1, but the Dukes erupted for seven runs in the top of the third to take a seemingly-commanding 10-1 lead.
James Madison scored its seven runs on five hits, including four doubles. Two runs were charged to Potter while the additional five came off Brett Jones, who relieved Potter early in the inning.
Maryland immediately chipped away at the sizeable deficit in the bottom of the third. With the bases loaded and one out, Poutier laced a double to right-center to clear the bases and then scored on a sacrifice fly to cut the Dukes' lead to 10-5.
Sophomore southpaw Adam Kolarek came out of the bullpen and tossed two scoreless innings, giving the offense two more chances to chip away at the lead.
Coming off Kolarek's scoreless fourth, the left side of Maryland's infield showed its power at the plate in the bottom half. Shortstop Matthew Murakami hit a two-run homer to center field with one out for his first career home run. Third baseman Mike Murphy followed Murakami with a home run to left of his own, a shot that hit off the roof of the Varsity Team House beyond the fence.
Murphy's homer was his 10th of the season and 30th of his career, tying him for fifth on Maryland's all-time list. It is the second straight season in which Murphy has hit double-digit homers.
Down 10-8, Poutier deposited starting pitcher Alex Valadja's first offering of the fifth over the wall in center field to pull the Terps within one.
Josh Futter relieved Valadja after the home run, but fared no better against the resurgent Terps offense. Greenberg doubled off the right-field wall and Bennett cranked a home run to right-center to give the Terps their first lead of the game, 11-10.
After combining for 21 runs in the first five innings, the pitching settled down and the score remained the same going into the bottom of the eighth inning.
Maryland ace starting pitcher Scott Swinson pitched two shutout innings of relief and got out of a seventh-inning jam by turning a 1-6-3, inning-ending double play to strand a pair of baserunners.
The Terps took the drama out of the late innings by plating six insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth. Poutier and Greenberg both delivered two-run doubles and Bennett added another with an RBI double.
Junior Dan Gentzler pitched the final two innings for the Terps to earn his fourth save of the season.
Kolarek earned the victory to improve to 2-1. Futter took the loss to fall to 0-2.
Murphy finished with three hits and his third-inning double moved him into a tie for third place on Maryland's all-time list.
The nine-run deficit is the biggest comeback for the Terps this season.
Herbek led the Dukes with three hits. Trevor Knight, Matt Townsend and Bryan Lescanec each drove in two runs for James Madison.
Maryland is at West Virginia Wednesday for a 5 p.m. matchup with the Mountaineers.
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