March 31, 2011
Season Stats (PDF)
Game Notes (PDF)
No. 7 Florida State (19-6, 6-3) at Maryland (12-13, 1-8)
Probable Pitching Matchups
Friday (7 p.m.): RHP Chuck Ghysels (1-2, 4.95) vs. LHP Sean Gilmartin (5-0, 1.49)
Saturday (3 p.m.): RHP David Carroll (4-1, 2.56) vs. RHP Scott Sitz (3-1, 3.86)
Sunday (Noon): LHP Eric Potter (2-3, 3.93) vs. RHP Gary Merians (4-1, 2.05)
Storyline...
• Maryland returns home during a daunting portion of the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule for a series with No. 7 Florida State. The Terps are in the middle of three straight weekend series against ranked opponents. Last weekend at Virginia, now ranked No. 1 in the nation, the Terps were swept but held leads in both games of the Saturday doubleheader before falling 4-2 in each contest.
• Against UVA, David Carroll turned in perhaps his best performance yet in what has been an impressive debut season. The junior transfer from Western Nevada allowed just one run in seven innings and recorded 16 consecutive outs between the second and seventh innings. Carroll has pitched at least seven innings in four of his six starts and ranks eighth in the ACC in innings pitched (38.2). His 2.56 ERA ranks 13th.
• Chuck Ghysels will make his second Friday-night start after pitching mostly in relief with a couple of mid-week starts early in the year. Sunday starter Eric Potter has been tough to hit but has struggled with his control at times; in six of his seven starts he has allowed four or fewer hits and opponents are batting just .193 against him, a mark that is eighth-best in the conference. He has taken a no-hitter into the 7th inning twice (vs. Canisius, 3/5; vs. BC, 3/20), but on the season he has issued 20 walks and hit seven batters.
• The Terrapin offense, with seven newcomers in the lineup most days, has been a work in progress. Junior second baseman Ryan Holland's .342 batting average leads the team and ranks 15th in the ACC. Maryland has plenty of speed - Charlie White, Alfredo Rodriguez and Korey Wacker have eight stolen bases apiece and as a team the Terps have 45, second in the conference only to Duke with 46.
Follow the Terps Online
• Audio of all three games will be streamed online at WMUCSports.com. Fans can follow live stats through www.umterps.com and get updates via twitter at www.twitter.com/UMTerps.
About the Seminoles...
• Ranked No. 7 in the nation by Baseball America, Florida State is 19-6 and atop the ACC's Atlantic Division with a 6-3 conference record. The Seminoles started the 2011 season strong by winning 15 of their first 16 and have won two of their three games against Florida, which has been ranked in the top-5 throughout the season.
• On the mound, the Seminoles boast the conference's fourth-best ERA (3.01) and are led by junior Sean Gilmartin's perfect 5-0 record. Gilmartin ranks fourth in the conference with a 1.49 ERA, has 44 strikeouts and only four walks, and is holding opponents to a .181 batting average. Fellow junior Hunter Scantling leads the team with a 1.33 ERA and .174 opponent batting average.
• Senior Mike McGee, Florida State's starting center fielder, ranks sixth in the ACC with a team-best .385 average. McGee is amongst the conference's top-five in slugging percentage (.654) and home runs (5). He also has eight appearances on the mound with four saves. James Ramsey, Devon Travis and Justin Gonzalez also have batting averages above .300 and over 25 hits and 10 RBI apiece.
SERIES HISTORY: Maryland trails the all-time series with Florida State, 60-3. The Terps were swept by the Seminoles in Tallahassee last season and have lost 39 straight in the series. Maryland's last win came on March 26, 1998, a 14-6 triumph in Tallahassee.
Quick Hits...
• Ryan Holland (John's Creek, Ga./Chattahoochee Valley CC) ranks 15th in the conference in batting average (.342) and his .440 on-base percentage is just 21 points outside the top 10.
• Maryland is coming off a season in which it stole a school-record 123 bases. This season the Terps aren't quite on that pace, but still rank second in the ACC with 45 stolen bases, behind only Duke with 46.
• Freshmen Kyle Convissar and Alex Ramsay, who both went to Severna Park HS and were the top-2 ranked players in the state of Maryland, have seen increased playing time of late. Ramsay, a catcher, has played in 11 games with five starts and is hitting .313. Convissar primarily plays third base but has seen time at second, shortstop and DH. He has started seven of the last eight and at Virginia on March 26 had his first multiple-hit game.
• The Terps were at or near the top of the ACC in fielding percentage most of the season, but an uncharacteristic eight errors in the series at Virginia dropped them into the middle of the pack.
