COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Redshirt freshman left-hander Billy Phillips tossed four scoreless innings and struck out four as the Maryland baseball team defeated James Madison, 6-1, Wednesday afternoon at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium.
The Terrapins (17-23) offense scored twice in the opening inning to give its pitching staff a lead it would not relinquish. Maryland hit three home runs off the Dukes (21-20) and seniors Kevin Biondic, Will Watson and Zach Jancarski each notched multi-hit games.
After Phillips went three up, three down in the first, junior Marty Costes got the Terps going with a single up the middle. Biondic then tripled down the right field line to plate Costes, before coming in on a Jancarski infield single.
Phillips was spectacular in his four innings of work, giving up just a pair of singles and punching out four Dukes. It was a career high in innings pitched and strikeouts for the redshirt freshman, who started his first game since high school.
Freshman Randy Bednar made it a 3-0 game with a solo home run to center field in the fourth, his fifth homer of the season.
Redshirt freshman righty Mike Vasturia worked a pair of scoreless frames before lefty Sean Fisher notched a scoreless seventh. Maryland added three runs in the bottom half of that inning, first on a Nick Dunn solo homer with one down. Watson then hit a two-run homer to make it 6-0.
In the eighth, senior right hander Ryan Hill worked his first innings of the season. James Madison plated an unearned run off righty John Murphy in the ninth
Maryland returns to action Friday afternoon at Michigan State. Freshman Mark DiLuia will get the ball for the Terps for a 3 p.m. start. The game can be seen live on BTN or fans can listen to the game on the Maryland Baseball Network.
Game Notes: The victory marked the 250th win of public address announcer Matt Noble's career with Maryland baseball. In addition, the game saw the debut of new rally squirrel Crumbs Jr., now known as CJ. We'll have you decide what was more important.
