March 4, 2011
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COLLEGE PARK, Md. -
Maryland let two leads slip away and Canisius broke a 4-4 tie in the top of the eighth inning on a RBI single by Sean Jamieson to lead the Griffins over the Terps 5-4 Friday night.
Michael Montville hit a two-run home run to left-center field for a 2-0 Maryland lead in the second inning, but the Terps were undone by issuing nine walks and hitting one batter in the game. Three of Canisius' five runs came from the result of a free pass.
"I thought they outplayed us. We gave too many free passes away with walks and hit-by-pitches," said head coach Erik Bakich. "We didn't get the big hit with two outs in RBI situations and they did."
Maryland (5-4) scored two runs in the second, one in the third and one in the fifth, but Canisius (4-4) responded with at least one run of its own the next half inning each time.
Jack Cleary and Alfredo Rodriguez led off the third inning with back-to-back singles, Korey Wacker moved up both runners on a sacrifice bunt and Cleary scored on a Tomo Delp groundout for a 3-1 Maryland lead.
The next half-inning, Chris Gruarin singled and Drew Pettit was hit by a pitch to give the Griffins runners on first and second. After a sacrifice bunt, Ryan Coppinger singled to left field to tie it 3-3.
The Terps responded to retake the lead in the fifth with a perfectly executed squeeze play. Matt Marquis led off the inning with a double to the gap in left-center and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Cleary. With Rodriguez at the plate and a 1-1 count, Marquis took off down the third-base line and Rodriguez put a bunt down the first-base line, allowing the run to come home.
But Canisius again tied it in the sixth after a two-out walk to Will Chomicki opened the door for back-to-back singles by Coppinger and Jamieson, making it 4-4 after six.
That set the table for the eighth, when Jamieson again came through with a RBI single, this time for the lead.
"We went 4-0 last week but we didn't really play our best baseball," said Bakich. "Today we got burned by making some mistakes that ended up costing us the game. We're just going to have to keep getting better, correct our mistakes and not let them happen again."
Canisius starting pitcher Shane Davis (1-1) went seven innings, giving up four runs on seven hits to earn the win. Billy Martin pitched two scoreless innings to earn the save (1).
Maryland reliever Jimmy Reed (0-1) gave up a run in 1.1 innings and took the loss. Terrapin starter Sander Beck gave up three runs on four hits in five innings while striking out five and walking five, but didn't factor into the decision.
The teams finish up the three-game series with a doubleheader Saturday at noon.
