April 28, 2012

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BLACKSBURG, Va. - Brett Harman struck out a season-high 10 in eight innings, Matt Bosse sparked the offense with a pair of home runs and Maryland defeated Virginia Tech 8-1 Saturday afternoon.

Harman held the Hokies to three hits and one unearned run in eight dominant innings and surpassed assistant coach Eric Milton for third place on Maryland's career strikeouts list. The senior entered the day with 234 in his career and finished with 244, moving with 10 of second place.

Maryland (28-18, 8-15 ACC) outhit Virginia Tech (29-16, 9-14 ACC) for the second straight day, finishing with a 9-to-3 advantage. Bosse was 2-of-3, while Alfredo Rodriguez had multiple hits for the second game in a row with a 2-for-4 effort.

From the onset Harman set the tone, retiring 12 of 13 batters faced between a walk issued in the first and a two-out single by Virginia Tech's Alex Perez in the fifth. Harman worked from ahead in the count - he threw first-pitch strikes to 20 of 29 batters faced - enabling him to set down the side in order in the second, fourth, seventh and eighth innings.

In the second he struck out the side - all on swings and misses - and struck out two more an inning later. The few times a runner did reach base, Harman took it to another level; Virginia Tech went 0-for-11 with runners on base.

The defense played its part, too. Jordan Hagel ended the bottom of the first inning with a diving catch in right field, and Rodriguez made a highlight-reel play in the fourth. On a hard-hit ball that took a short hop, Rodriguez made a nice backhanded pick and made a long throw across the diamond for the out.

Bosse, meanwhile, was the catalyst offensively. His opposite field, solo homer to lead off the third gave Maryland a 1-0 lead, and he followed with another two innings later. On a 2-1 offering, the freshman sent a two-run shot over the wall in right field to make it 3-0.

Bosse's homer was just the start of a seven-run rally in the fifth. Consecutive singles by Korey Wacker and Rodriguez put runners on the corners, and Hagel followed with a double down the left-field line on a full count to drive in Wacker.

That prompted a pitching change for Tech, which went to reliever Manny Martir. Martir struck out Tomo Delp for the first out, but intentionally walked K.J. Hockaday to load the bases and issued a four-pitch walk to Tim Kiene to score another. After a Kyle Convissar RBI groundout, Jack Cleary drove in the final run of the inning with an infield single.

Bosse, who homered against Towson on Tuesday, has three home runs this week and four on the season. A Terp had last homered twice in a game on April 5, 2011, when Jake Stinnett had two against West Virginia. It had been nearly three years since a Terp hit two homers in an ACC game; the last time that happened was May 9, 2009.

The Hokies' lone run came as the result of a couple Maryland errors in the sixth, but Maryland had the game well in control by that point.

Harman, who threw 100 pitches in the game, 68 of them for strikes, improved to 6-3 with the win. He's now tied for fifth on Maryland's career wins list with 16 and needs one more to move into a tie for third.

Virginia Tech starter Devin Burke (0-1) took the loss after surrendering six runs on seven hits in four innings.

Maryland will go for a series victory on Sunday at 1 p.m. RHP David Carroll (3-2, 3.65) will take on Virginia Tech LHP Joe Mantiply (4-4, 3.86).

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