COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The University of Maryland baseball team split its two fall scrimmage games vs. St. John's on Sunday, winning the first game 10-5 and dropping the second, 8-3.
Maryland's first scrimmage of the fall was at Army in West Point, New York. The scrimmages, which don't count toward the team's spring schedule, wrapped up Maryland's fall team practices, unless another Fall World Series game is played.
GAME ONE – Maryland 10, St. John's 5
The Red Storm took the lead early with a three-run third inning, but wouldn't plate another runner until the ninth inning. Maryland responded the next inning, batting around and getting four across after the first three batters reached base. Austin Chavis worked a bases-loaded walk and Tavan Shahidi hit a two-run double to tie the game at 3-3.
Randy Bednar hit a go-ahead solo shot in the fifth, and Maryland had another big inning in the sixth, scoring four runs on back-to-back hits from Tommy Gardiner and Chris Alleyne, then taking advantage of a St. John's error. Two more runs came via Shahidi and Gardiner in the seventh, and the Maryland pitching staff cruised all the way to the ninth inning, allowing two late runs but securing the victory in game one.
Tavan Shahidi fueled the Terps' offense in Game One, going 4-for-5 with two doubles and three RBIs. Randy Bednar hit Maryland's only home run of the day, a no-doubter to left field, as part of his 2-for-4 outing that included a walk. Tommy Gardiner also pushed in a pair of runs, going 2-for-4 with a walk.
Troy Schreffler Jr. and Austin Chavis were the lone freshmen in the Terrapin starting lineup in the first matchup, Screffler starting in left field while Chavis got the start at second base.
Nicholas Dean got the start on the mound, going two innings without allowing a hit, but walking three batters and giving up three runs (all unearned). Sam Bello, Sean Burke, and Sean Fisher all pitched in relief, striking out a combined eight while giving up just two runs.
GAME TWO – St. John's 8, Maryland 3
St. John's got on the board first with an RBI double in the second inning, scoring another on a wild pitch in the fourth, and scoring four runs and batting around the lineup in the sixth inning, all while no-hitting the Terps through six.
The no-hit bid by the Red Storm was broken up with a Michael Bouma double in the seventh, and Austin Chavis would drive in a run later in the inning to break up the shutout. Maryland would get two more runs across in the ninth inning, but St. John's would ultimately win 8-3.
Bouma was the lone starter to record a hit, while Chavis – pinch hitting for Benjamin Cowles – recorded Maryland's only other knock of the game. Zach Thompson toed the rubber to start Game Two, pitching two innings allowing one run, while Ryan Ramsey, Trevor LaBonte, Sean Heine, Elliot Zoellner and Dave Falco all pitched relief innings, combining for seven hits, eight strikeouts, and eight runs allowed.
UP NEXT
Maryland opens the spring season on Feb. 14 in Charleston, S.C. where the Terps will play Charleston Southern, then will face Iona and College of Charleston to wrap up the first weekend of the season.
-TERPS-
