LAFAYETTE, La. – Senior right-hander Hunter Parsons tossed seven innings of one-run ball to lift the Maryland baseball team to its sixth consecutive win, a 4-2 defeat of Louisiana at Russo Park Friday night.
The Terrapins (6-2) and Rajin Cajuns played a close contest throughout as aces Parsons and Gunner Leger dueled in front of an announced crowd of 4,448. Maryland's offense plated three runs in the fifth to take the lead.
"It was awesome," Parsons said. "It was a great experience to pitch on Friday night in front of a great fan base like that. I think we grow every day. This team goes out competes every day. All the work we've put in has translated out on the field."
The first four innings was a pitchers dual between two stellar arms. Parsons lone blemish was a solo home run in the fourth, but he stayed with Leger through the left hander's fantastic first four innings in which he kept Maryland's hitters off-balance.
The Terps eventually got to the redshirt-senior in the fifth. Sophomore Chris Alleyne singled through the right side before moving to second on an errant throw from Leger to second on Caleb Walls' bunt. That put two on for sophomore Randy Bednar who hit a rocket ground-rule double that plated Alleyne.
Senior Taylor Wright's RBI groundout gave Maryland a 2-1 lead. Freshman Maxwell Costes was then hit by a pitch before Justin Vought singled to the third baseman to score Bednar.
Parsons got in a rhythm after getting the lead, putting up zeros in the fifth, sixth and seventh. The senior struck out six to just one walk in his outing and scattered five hits.
After an AJ Lee lead-off double, the Terps took advantage of a defensive blunder to score sophomore Tommy Gardiner, who entered to pinch run for Lee. An errant throw on an Alleyne groundball to the shortstop went into foul territory which enabled Gardiner to score from second.
Maryland's bullpen gave up a run in the eighth, but junior righty Nick Turnbull worked out of a bases loaded jam to work out of a mostly inherited jam.
In the ninth, senior right-hander John Murphy entered and struck out the side to earn his conference leading fourth save of the season.
Maryland returns to action for a pair of game on Saturday against Louisiana. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 3 p.m. ET with game two to take place 45 minutes after game one.
-Terps-
