April 2, 2011

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COLLEGE PARK, Md. - David Carroll continued his dominance on the mound and freshman Jake Stinnett drove in three runs to lead the University of Maryland baseball team to a 5-0 victory against No. 7 Florida State Saturday afternoon at Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium.

With the victory, the Terrapins (13-14, 2-9 ACC) ended a 40-game losing streak to the Seminoles (20-7, 7-4 ACC). Maryland's last victory against Florida State was March 26, 1998 in Tallahassee, Fla. It was also Maryland's first home win against the Seminoles since May 2, 1993.

Florida State threatened to get on the board in the first inning and appeared it would when James Ramsey singled up the middle with two outs and Devon Travis on second base. However, center fielder Korey Wacker charged, cleanly fielded the ball and made a perfect, one-hop throw to catcher Aaron Etchison, who applied the tag on a sliding Travis for the final out.

Carroll settled in after that, easily retiring the Seminoles the ensuing three innings. With the game still scoreless, the Terps had a breakthrough in the bottom of the fourth. With runners on the corners and two outs, Stinnett ripped Scott Sitz's 2-2 offering into the left-field corner, plating Wacker and Alex Ramsay. The Terps were not quite done, though, as freshman Tim Kiene drove in Stinnett with an RBI single to right field.

Trailing 3-0 in the top of the fifth, it appeared Florida State would get right back in the game. Carroll walked the first two batters and an infield single loaded the bases with no outs. Florida State shortstop Justin Gonzalez worked a full count, but Carroll struck him out looking for the first out. Just one pitch later, Carroll escaped the jam with no damage done thanks to his glove. Designated hitter Seth Miller ripped a hard ground ball up the middle, but Carroll got his glove up and snatched it, made a perfect throw home for the force out and Etchison completed a 1-2-3 double play with a good throw to first.

The Terps tacked on single runs in the fifth and seventh innings on RBI singles by Kyle Convissar and Stinnett.

Carroll pitched into the eighth inning and was relieved with runners at second and third with one out after a double by Travis. Carroll left to a big ovation from the crowd and teammates alike. Freshman Brady Kirkpatrick came on and got two outs to escape the inning. The first batter Kirkpatrick faced, Sherman Johnson, lined a ball that appeared destined for a single to left-center field, but Terps shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez made an impressive leaping catch for the out and Kirkpatrick struck out Mike McGee to end the threat.

Despite allowing a season-high six walks, Carroll struck out a season-best seven and tied his season highs with 7 1/3 innings pitched and three hits allowed to improve to 5-1 on the season and dropped his ERA to 2.15. Sitz got the loss for Florida State, allowing three runs on five hits in four innings to fall to 3-2.

Maryland pitching has held Florida State to a season low in hits in both games of the series. The Seminoles had at least six hits in every game this season until recording five Friday and only three Saturday.

The shutout was Maryland's third of the year and first of an ACC opponent since blanking Virginia Tech, 10-0, in last year's conference opener in Blacksburg, Va.

Stinnett, Ramsay, Rodriguez and Charlie White had two hits apiece for the Terps.

The rubber game of the series begins at noon Sunday with Eric Potter pitching for Maryland against Gary Merians of Florida State.