Mar 14, 2013; Greensboro, NC, USA; Maryland Terrapins cheerleader performs in the first half at Greensboro Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

• Categorize this one under “Cool.” Yesterday, the Maryland Terrapins honored Lefty Driesell for his dedication and contributions to the school with a bas-relief inside the Comcast Center. A single bas-relief doesn’t even do that man’s eight NCAA tourney appearances and 348 wins justice. You know those bird statues they have all around campus? Replace those with Lefty statues, the man’s earned it. (UMTerps.com)
• The Terrapins baseball team is in serious danger of not making the tournament, and that’s due in large part to their lack of success on the weekends. This weekend, they’ve got the Virginia Tech Hokies, and in order to start righting the ship, it has to start with them. Here’s a preview of when and where to get you prepped.
• Speaking of non-revenue sports, the Washington Post does a great job of wrapping up all their content for the week. In this edition, they talk about baseball standout Charlie White, whose base running this year has landed him in the record books. A bright star in a tougher season, congrats Charlie!
• An in-house promotion, Steven Ulrich of TerrapinStationMD gives his take on why Antonio Barton would be a great fit for Maryland. He’s a Baltimore kid, and as we all know, Baltimore is never on good terms with College Park. But it still means he has homegrown roots, and might want to take a reunion tour with the Terps.
• The Terrapins have an early glimpse already at a part of their schedule, the Paradise Jam, which released their bracket to the public. Up first? Marist, which features two local Md. products. A win/loss there would pit them against either Northern Iowa or Loyola Marymount. Both games should be interesting as hell.
• In slightly sports-related news, Maryland has yet again made DeadSpin.com headlines. This time because of their amazing sorority sisters who have, let’s just say, a lot of pent up aggression. Read the transcript here.

Aug 30, 2012; Seattle, WA, USA; Seattle Seahawks quarterback Josh Portis (2) throws a pass against the Oakland Raiders at CenturyLink Field. The Seahawks defeated the Raiders 21-3. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-USA TODAY Sports

• Right now the Terrapins are in desperate need of a true point guard. That probably wouldn’t be the case if their once prized recruit, Sam Cassell Jr., was allowed to play for them. Cassell, son of the famed alien/guard Sam Cassell, was ruled ineligible last year due to academic reasons. So what is Jr. up to, and does he still miss the Terps? Matt Bracken will go ahead and fill you in.
• In case you missed it, Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks retained his superstar backup for yet another season. No I’m not talking about Matt Flynn or Brady Quinn. I’m talking about former Maryland Terrapin Josh Portis. (Seattle Times)
• On a lighter note, the Maryland Terrapins women’s lacrosse team is balling outrageous right now. In fact, in their big win over Princeton, four ladies notched hat tricks in a 15-9 win. I know the men’s team is great, but the women’s squad is absolutely stacked this year so be sure to support them. (Diamondback Online)
• For the second day in a row I get to give my Jewish Terps a shout out by linking this awesome story about the largest Jewish basketball tournament in the nation coming to College Park, Maryland. With over 6,000 Jewish students at Maryland, this is something I take pride in. In attendance, among others, will be David Stern…kinda. (JewishVoiceNY.com)
• Finally, Terps baseball is doing some good things lately, including pummeling Virginia school George Mason thanks to the efforts of Big “Papio.” Maryland may be starting to hit a groove with their bats, which bodes well for the future.

Another beautiful day, Roll Terps.

Apr 2, 2013; New York, NY, USA; Maryland Terrapins cheerleaders perform during the second half of the NIT Tournament semifinal against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Madison Square Garden. Iowa won the game 71-60. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

• C.J. Brown’s career to this point has been cut short by injuries, but the NCAA ruled yesterday to extend his Maryland career just a bit more. Having a veteran like Brown on the staff is going to be great for the younger QBs on the roster. I’m looking forward to see if he still has that speed! (WaPo)
• With Alex Len leaving, the Terrapins stand to be a little thin in the front court for the foreseeable future. Well, if they can land 2014 big man Trayvon Reed, they may end up forgetting about Alex sooner rather than later (InsideMDSports via Baltimore Sun)
• The Terrapins baseball team rarely wins one-run games, but that wasn’t the case against VCU yesterday. In doing so, they picked up their 17th win of the season. Them boys have to keep up the strong play; I want a great baseball team! (DiamondbackOnline)
• I’m normally hesitant to link Duke anything, but a few days ago the Duke Basketball Report gave the Terrapins some praise with the direction they are headed in. Even when super-preseason polls give the Terps no love, Duke does. For that, I am happy.
• I did a little breakdown of Jake Layman’s game and how he might play in the future. Rather than comparing him to the stock Mike Dunleavy, I decided to go against the grain and pick Reggie Bullock.
• Because Maryland is such a diverse school, we have lots of Jewish people, among others. Apparently the fraternities have noticed and sought out a roadmap to sexual success with the group, and the sororities have responded. Hilarious

The Teams: Maryland Terrapins (5-3) vs Princeton Tigers (0-0) Weekend Preview

The Time: Friday @ 4 p.m. EST, Saturday Double Header @ 12 p.m., Sunday @ 1 p.m.

The Location: Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium – College Park, Md.

Live Stats: Here

Live Broadcast: WMUCSports.com

Pitching Matchups:

Game 1: LHP Jimmy Reed (1-1, 2.25 ERA, 12.0 IP, 11 SO, 3 BB) vs RHP Zak Hermans (2012: 6-2, 3.00 ERA, 63 IP, 60 SO, 22 BB)

Game 2: RHP Brady Kirkpatrick (1-1, 1.59 ERA, 11.1 IP, 8 SO, 6 BB) vs LHP Michael Fagan (2012: 1-4, 7.57 ERA, 27.1 IP, 27 SO, 37 BB)

Game 3: RHP Kevin Mooney (0-0, 4.26 ERA, 6.1 IP, 4 SO, 6 BB) vs RHP Kevin Link (2012: 3-3, 5.73 ERA, 48.2 IP, 26 SO, 12 BB)

Game 4: LHP Alex Robinson (0-1, 5.40 ERA, 10.0 IP, 10 SO, 4 BB) vs RHP Mike Ford (2012: 4-4, 3.60 ERA, 50.0 IP, 26 SO, 17 IP)

The Backstory:

The Terrapins are a hot baseball team at the moment, currently riding a five-game winning streak after having lost their first three games to the LSU Tigers to start the season. Since those first three games, in which they were outscored 40-4 against a pretty good SEC opponent, the Terrapins have gotten their bats heated up again versus Oakland and James Madison. During their five game winning streak, Maryland has outscored it’s opponents 45-16, scoring eight or more runs in four of the last five games. They are looking to extend that winning streak against a Princeton, a team that has yet to play a game this year, as they head into conference play. Their first ACC game is next weekend against UVA, but Princeton is their final non-conference weekend series.

The Terrapins are looking to ride superstar Charlie White during this stretch. White has been the best Terp by far this year, leading the ACC in stolen bases and pretty much every other offensive statistical category. He leads the team in bases stolen, batting average (.462), slugging percentage (.577), on-base percentage (.600), and hits (12). His four stolen bases against Oakland during the first game of last Friday’s double-header made him the first Terp to do that since 1998. Talk about a do-it-all player.

Princeton is looking to improve on a solid 2012 season, in which they went 20-19 and finished second in the Lou Gehrig Division in the Ivy League. The Tigers were just behind Ivy League-champion Cornell, and return the vast majority of their players, so look for them to be very similar to last year. The pitching staff gets back three starters and 11 slingers overall, and the positional players get back six from that 2012 team. They do, however, lose out on two players, shortstop/RHP Matt Bowman and catcher Sam Mulroy, both of which were drafted by the Mets and the Angels respectively last spring.

Among those returning players is their ace, Zak Hermans, who will get the start in the first game of the series. Hermans is the incumbent Ivy League Pitcher of the Year and an All-Ivy First Team selection, who went 6-2 last year with a 3.00 ERA. He averages a shade under a strikeout an inning, with 60 K’s over 63 innings last year. The Terrapins are fully expected to have a rough go of things the first match with him tossing the ball, considering he is a pitcher who completes games and doesn’t give up too much in the run department. Last year, he pitched two complete games, one of which was a 14-strikeout, nine-inning performance against eventual champion Cornell during a 1-0 win.

The Tigers also get back All-Ivy First teamer Alex Keller. Keller had a very solid 2012, hitting for a .346 average and batting in 18 runners.

Terrapin Takes

• .325 – the batting average of the Terrapins over the course of this five game winning streak. Maryland has had 20 extra base hits during that stretch.
• 26 – the number of bases stolen by the Terps during a four-game series with Oakland. 11 of those steals came during one game, which was an All-Time record for the program.
• 11 – the number of stolen bases by Charlie White, who leads the ACC in that statistical category.
• 47 – the numer of hits Alec Keller had last season for the Tigers. He is the only returner to hit over .300 in 2012.
• 32 – the number of players on Princeton’s incredibly deep roster.

Potter. Image from umterps.com.

Adding shutdown pitching and timely offense to their usual dosage aggressive baserunning, Maryland was able to dispatch the Delaware State Hornets easily Tuesday night, defeating the visitors 8-0.

Eric Potter started the game for the Terps, and pitched five scoreless innings en route to his third win of the season. He struggled early, walking five batters, but struck out four and lowered his season ERA to 4.57 (from 5.20). Blair Delean and Jeff Crosswhite came in to pitch in relief for Maryland, and each pitched two scoreless innings to close it out.

Potter got out of two separate early jams in the first inning. Shortstop Keith Hernandez led off the game with a walk, and second baseman Scott Davis reached first on a throwing error by Tomo Delp. After designated hitter Ryan Haas grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, it looked like Maryland would get out of the inning. However, Potter walked Cameron Cecil and hit Aaron Nardone with a pitch, loading the bases for the Hornets. The lefty was able to strike out right fielder Joey Babuca on a slow breaking ball after a long battle, and the Terps got out of the inning.

In the bottom half of the inning, Delaware State starter Elliot Gardner got out of a jam of his own. Charlie White led off the inning with a stand-up double over the right fielder’s head, and Alfredo Rodriguez popped a ball up to center, which Troy Drummond promptly dropped. With runners on second and third and no outs, Ryan Holland and Michael Montville both struck out. Austin Kilbourne walked, but Tim Kiene grounded back to Gardner to end the inning.

In the bottom of the second, Maryland took the lead. Tomo Delp led off the inning with a single, and scored all the way from first on a single to right by Curtis Lazar that Delaware State took their sweet time to field.

The Terps were able to extend their lead in the bottom of the third. Alfredo Rodriguez led off the inning with a single, stole second, and took third on a throwing error by catcher Cecil. Holland walked and Montville was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with none out. Kilbourne walked, scoring a run, and Holland scored on a sac fly by Kiene. Another run scored on a Curtis Lazar sac fly, and Maryland finished the inning with a 4-0 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, Maryland manufactured another run on some great baserunning. With Rodriguez on second and two outs, Holland hit a slow roller to short. Holland raced down the baseline, forcing a quick throw in the dirt from shortstop Hernandez, and the second baseman dove headfirst into first base to beat the throw. A-Rod was able to round third and score without a throw, scoring from second on an infield single. Holland later scored on an single to right by Michael Montville, and the score was 6-0 Terps.

The Terps scored two more runs in the bottom of the eighth on a bases-loaded White walk and a sac fly from A-Rod.

Maryland travels to Virginia tomorrow to play James Madison. They play Miami in a big home series this weekend.

Some quotes from Coach Bakich:

“Their mentality they brought into Sunday has carried over. They’re playing fearless right now, which is how you have to play. In regards to the ACC games, you can’t try to clinch a berth to the ACC Tournament with every single win and I think we were trying a little bit too hard at times and putting a little too much pressure on ourselves at times and I think now these guys are just taking more of a mentality of being fearless and playing the game as hard as they can every pitch of every inning for nine straight innings, and that’s just what they have to do.”

“Pressure is self-inflicted, it’s something that can be overwhelming if you let it be, but hopefully these guys won’t let that [happen]. I mean, who cares about what our record was last year, I don’t think anyone’s thinking about that, I certainly am not. I’m certainly not thinking about being .500, because that, to me, is not good. As far as the pressure of being a postseason team, that’s where guys are maybe trying too hard to focus on things they shouldn’t be focused on, like winning, when they need to just be focused on playing as hard as they can.”

On Eric Potter’s performance:

“I thought he was struggling through the first couple of innings, he had a few walks, but he found ways to get out of jams, which is a good sign. You could tell that he wasn’t quite totally comfortable, maybe he didn’t have his A-game out there for the first couple of innings, but then we got a four-run lead and he maybe relaxed a little bit, settled down a little bit, and then there was a noticeable difference in his command and his feel for the strike zone after the third inning, which was good.

On whether Potter is back to being a weekend pitcher:

“It’s not about that, I think it’s about just being the best pitcher he can be, he’s making progress towards getting back to that early season form.”

Carroll, back in his Western Nevada days. Image from their official website.

Maryland baseball played another big-time ACC series this weekend, hosting the #7 Florida State Seminoles in a three-game set. It was the third series against a top-ten opponent for the Terps this year – they took one out of four from Texas in the first weekend of the season and were swept by Virginia on the road – and Maryland was able to take some positives out of this series, as they managed to find a win and perhaps a new ace.

Curiously enough, Chuck Ghysels started the first game of the series on the mound for Maryland. Ghysels has spent most of the year as a reliever – he was expected to be the closer but was unable to hold on to that role – but has found himself starting in spots for the Terps.

After surrendering two runs in the top of the first on a James Ramsey single and a Jayce Boyd sacrifice bunt, the righty settled down, striking out six over the next two frames (both scoreless). However, he ran into trouble in the top of the fourth, walking two batters and hitting a third before Michael Boyden came in for him in relief.  All three runners eventually scored, and Ghysels finished the game allowing five runs (all earned) in three innings pitched with seven strikeouts against six walks and three hits.

Boyden faced three batters, walking two and allowing a single to the third, making way for Charlie Haslup. Haslup and Jimmy Reed each pitched three innings of scoreless relief, allowing only one hit between the two of them, but it was too little too late. Sean Gilmartin pitched six shutout innings for Florida State to improve to 6-0 on the year and Mack Waugh pitched the final three scoreless frames for his first save of the year. Although the Seminoles only had one more hit than the Terrapins (five to four), they took the first game 6-0.

In the second game, David Carroll continued his remarkable season, pitching 7 1/3 scoreless innings with seven strikeouts en route to his fifth win of the year. The junior transfer from Western Nevada, who is rapidly making his case to overtake Sander Beck as the team’s ace, lowered his ERA to 2.15 and got his second win over a top-ten team (he was the Terp to beat Texas earlier).

On the offensive side of things, Jake Stinnett went 2-3 with a walk and three RBIs. Two of those RBIs gave Maryland the lead they would not relinquish, as a fourth inning double down the left field line by the third baseman scored Korey Wacker and Alex Ramsay. The Terps won by a final score of 5-0.

The third game of the series did not prove very fortuitous for Maryland’s pitching. The Terps allowed 12 runs, and Reed was the only one of Maryland’s six pitchers on the day to pitch at least two innings. Again, the Terps were able to match the Seminoles’ hit production – each team had 13 – but Maryland was unable to capitalize on their base-running opportunities, falling in the final game of the series 12-3.

Maryland is now 13-15, and stand at 2-10 in the ACC. Florida State is 21-7 with an 8-4 conference record. The Terps travel to Morgantown to play West Virginia this week, facing the Mountaineers on Tuesday.

Carroll was the lone bright spot for the Terps in the series.

One of Maryland’s biggest road series of the year did not go so well. After losing the opening game to Virginia 14-1, the Terps lost the second game in heartbreaking fashion, 4-2, and lost another close one in the final, 4-2.

We’re not going to spend too much time on the first game, because there’s not too much to say. Chuck Ghysels, who has been a reliever and a weekday starter for most of the year, started the game and allowed four runs in three innings. Sander Beck allowed ten runs in the fourth, but only two were earned – the Terps committed five errors in the game. Blair Delean followed up with four scoreless innings. UVA’s Danny Hultzen improved to 5-0, allowing one run in six innings with nine strikeouts, while Shane Halley got the save with three scoreless innings in relief.

In the second game, Maryland was able to jump out to an early 2-0 lead. In the top of the first, Charlie White scored on an error by Virginia shortstop Chris Taylor, and Alex Ramsay scored in the third on a Ryan Holland single. The Cavaliers got a run back in the bottom of the seventh on a David Coleman single, but it was the eighth that ruined the Terps’ night.

After Korey Wacker got two quick outs in groundouts from Taylor and John Barr, and then got John Hicks and Ryan Levine to hit grounders as well. Problem was, errors by Alfredo Rodriguez and Kyle Convissar on those two grounders allowed Virginia to continue the inning. Singles from Steven Proscia, Kenny Swab and Jared King scored three runs, giving the Cavaliers a 4-2 lead that they would not relinquish.

David Carroll pitched very well for the Terps (as usual), allowing only one run in seven innings of work.

In the third game, Maryland got out to an early lead again but was unable to hold it. In the top of the first, White scored on a sacrifice fly from Holland after leading off the inning with a double. In the top of the second, Kyle Convissar scored on a single by Jack Cleary.

In the bottom of the second, Virginia got all the run support they needed. After a lead-off walk from Proscia, Swab singled to short. Eric Potter struck out King and Proscia was caught stealing third, but the Hoos were able to put together an impressive two-out rally. Keith Werman was hit by a pitch, and Mitchel Shifflett singled up the middle, scoring Swab (the runners also advanced a base due to a throwing error). Taylor tripled in two runs and later scored on a wild pitch, leaving the score at 4-2.

Maryland is now 11-13 on the year, with a 1-8 record in ACC play. The Terps were 17-39 with a 5-25 conference record last season. The Terps’ season continues Wednesday, March 30 against George Mason.

Kirkpatrick struck out five batters in two innings. Image from umterps.com.

After struggling offensively in this past weekend’s three game series against Boston College, Maryland’s offense found their groove against George Washington Tuesday night, as a five-run bottom of the sixth helped propel the Terps to an 8-2 victory.

Michael Boyden started the game for Maryland, and allowed two runs (one earned) in three innings on two hits and three walks. Chuck Ghysels came in for the junior after a leadoff walk in the fourth, and struck out four in two scoreless innings. Brady Kirkpatrick came in in the top of the sixth, and struck out five in two scoreless innings. Jimmy Reed got out of a jam in the eighth, and Blair Delean pitched a scoreless ninth to seal the game.

Although the Terps used five different pitchers, coach Erik Bakich said that was a part of their plan to get more players some innings.

“We wanted to get some guys some work,” he said. “And we have to split the games up in the midweek just to make sure that all those guys who threw tonight can still throw on the weekend.”

George Washington took the lead in the second with some shrewd base running. Right fielder Tyler McCarthy led off with a double down the right field line, and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Brett Bowers. After a strike out by Jimmy Best, Ollie Mittag walked to put runners on the corners with two outs. Mittag took off for second during the next at-bat, intentionally getting in a rundown to allow McCarthy to score the first run of the game.

Maryland was able to tie it up in the bottom of the third with a two-out rally. After Matt Marquis struck out and Alex Ramsay flew out, Charlie White walked. The right fielder advanced to second on a stolen base and third on a wild pitch, and scored when Alfredo Rodriguez was just able to poke a single to center.

White spoke of the importance of the win coming off the disappointing weekend series against Boston College after the game.

“Every win is huge, especially when we pretty much beat up on ‘em,” he said. “Losing to BC was pretty tough, but we’ve kind of put it behind us and we’re just trying to get back on track.”

In the fourth, Stephen Oswald walked to lead it off, stole second on a poor throw by Alex Ramsay, and advanced to third on a passed ball. McCarthy struck out looking, and Bowers bunted the ball down the first base line, scoring Oswald and giving the Colonials the lead. On the play, Ghysels went to tag Bowers for the out, and the GW third baseman led with his shoulder, nearly causing a collision. Ghysels was able to get out of the inning, but the score was 2-1 George Washington.

Maryland was able to capitalize on on another two-out rally in the bottom of the fifth to tie up the game. After Korey Wacker lined out to right and Marquis struck out, Ramsay singled off the left fielder’s glove and advanced to second on a balk. White just beat out a grounder to second, advancing Ramsay to third, and Rodriguez was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Ryan Holland then walked on four pitches, scoring Ramsay and tying up the game.

Kirkpatrick got Maryland out of a tough jam in the top of the sixth to keep the score tied. Oswald led off with a walk and took second on a wild pitch. McCarthy walked, as Oswald advanced to third on another wild pitch, and stole second. Bowers struck out looking on a nasty breaking pitch, and Maryland elected to pitch to Best, arguably George Washington’s strongest hitter. Kirkpatrick struck out Best and pinch hitter Kyle Gelling, getting out of the jam with impressive ease.

“Tonight my changeup and curveball were really working,” Kirkpatrick said. “My fastball wasn’t completely there so I really relied on my offspeed stuff. At first I wasn’t being aggressive at all. Then [pitching] coach [Sean] Kenny came out and told me to just go after them, be aggressive and make them hit it, and that’s what I did. I knew I could threw strikes, I just needed to go back to my routine.”

The Terps took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the sixth. After Tim Kiene popped out to second, Kyle Convissar walked and stole second. Wacker singled over third baseman Bowers’ head, scoring Convissar with ease and making the score 3-2 Maryland. Wacker took second on a passed ball, and Matt Marquis hit him to third with an infield single. The Terps then executed a perfect double steal, as Marquis took second and Wacker stole home uncontested, advancing Maryland’s lead to 4-2. After a Brandon Padula (pinch-hitting for Ramsay) walked, Charlie White hit a double, scoring Marquis and advancing Padula to third. Ryan Holland grounded to first, but managed to beat the pitcher to the bag with a headfirst slide. Both Jordan Hagel (pinch-running for Padula) and White (with some heads-up base running) scored, making the score 7-2.

“The first few innings, we didn’t have much going,” Bakich said. “We were hitting too many balls in the air and striking out too much. Then we made an adjustment to get on top of the ball and go the other way and we were able to have a big inning there and put pressure on the defense and create some opportunities for us.”

Maryland had a lot of success on the basepaths during the game, beating out a few infield singles and taking advantage of some defensive blunders made by the Colonials.

“Aggressive is just one of our core covenants, one of the things we do in everything we do,” Bakich said. “It was good to get guys on, that’s been one of our struggles. We’ve struggled to get baserunners on over what seems like the last couple of weeks, and when we do get multiple baserunners on, when we do put pressure on teams, that’s what you see, you see us starting to turn the runners loose a little bit, because we’ve got good speed.”

After scoring just nine runs in the weekend set against Boston College, the Terps nearly equaled that total in one game against George Washington.

“I thought our energy level was much better,” Bakich said. “I thought the way we went about our business, our preparation prior to the game was much better. I thought the attention to detail, the dugout energy, the adjustments we made during the course of the game, I thought those were much improved from the weekend.”

Maryland’s scheduled Wednesday game against St. John’s was cancelled after the Red Storm were unable to make it out of a New York snow storm. The Terps travel to Charlottesville this weekend to take on third-ranked Virginia in what is arguably Maryland’s toughest test of the year (Texas is currently ranked 4th/6th). Maryland’s next home game is Wednesday, March 30th against George Mason.

Leonard. Image from indiatimes.com.

After a come-from-behind victory in the second game of the series gave Maryland an opportunity to take their first home conference set, the Terps’ offense failed to show up in the rubber match, losing to Boston College 4-1.

The Eagles were able to make the most of their opportunities in the top of the fifth, scoring two runs without a hit. Mike Sudol was hit by a pitch, and Matt Hamlet walked. Tom Bourdon bunted both runners over, and Sudol scored on a wild pitch. After a Brad Zapenas walk, Andrew Lawrence hit a sac fly to right, scoring Hamlet and giving Boston College a 2-0 lead.

Boston College extended their lead in the seventh, breaking up Eric Potter’s no-hitter in the process. Garret Smith led off the inning with a single through the left side, and advanced to second on a Matt Hamlet single. Tom Bourdon followed up with a single up the middle, scoring Smith and ending Potter’s day. The senior southpaw pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing three runs on three hits with six walks against four strikeouts.

Maryland created an opportunity for themselves in the bottom of the seventh, but were unable to capitalize. Gary Schneider was hit by a pitch,  and advanced to second on a sacrifice fly by Tomo Delp. Tim Kiene walked, and Schneider stole third. With Alfredo Rodriguez up as the tying run and one out, Kiene was picked off of first by the double move – a fake to third and then a quick turnaround to first. A-Rod lined out to third, ending the Maryland threat.

The Terps were able to get a run back in the bottom of the ninth when a Kiene single scored Ryan Holland, but it was too little, too late. Maryland plays a one-game set against George Washington on Tuesday, scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET.

The 6'8" junior struck out a season-high six en route to his fourth win.

An unconventional balk in the bottom of the seventh gave Maryland a 4-3 victory in the second game of their three-game weekend set against Boston College Saturday afternoon. It was Maryland’s first conference win of the season.

After the Terps loaded the bases against Nate Bayuk in the seventh inning Eagles’ head coach Mike Gambino brought in Eric Stevens. The freshman promptly dropped the ball in the middle of his delivery, scoring Jack Cleary and giving the Terps a lead they would hold over the next two innings.

“It was certainly a grind, today was not easy,” coach Erik Bakich said. “It was a battle back and forth the whole way through, and I thought we put ourselves in a deficit by some mistakes that we made, but I think the baseball gods rewarded us in the seventh.”

David Carroll (4-1) started the game for Maryland on the mound, and struck out a season-high six in seven innings, allowing three runs (one earned) and getting the win.

“Today, the offspeed stuff [was working for me],” Carroll said. “I was able to locate those for strikes pretty early in the count, and got some first pitch fastballs as well.”

“[Carroll] grinded his way through some tough innings, and actually pitched very well,” Bakich said. “Most teams don’t hit him very hard, especially when he’s throwing strikes down in the strike zone. He was very effective.”

Boston College took the lead early, taking an advantage of a Maryland blunder in the top of the first. Shortstop Brad Zapenas led off the inning with a single up the middle and stole second. Andrew Lawrence struck out, and Anthony Melchionda grounded to third, advancing the runner. Matt Watson walked on four pitches, putting runners on the corners with two outs. Carroll tried the old double pickoff move, faking to third before throwing to first, but the ball went off Tomo Delp’s glove, scoring Zapenas.

The Eagles were able to extend their lead in the second, after a Tom Bourdon single to the right side scored Mike Sudol, who had reached base on a lead-off single of his own.

Maryland was able to get a run back in the third with a two-out rally. After Alfredo Rodriguez and Korey Wacker both lined out, Cleary was hit by a pitch. Charlie White singles to the right side, advancing Cleary to second, and Ryan Holland floated a single in to left field just in front of Perdios, scoring Cleary. At that point, Boston College brought in Nate Bayuk, who retired Brandon Padula on a groundout to end the inning.

In the fourth, Maryland scored two to take their first lead of the game. Delp led off the inning with a single to the left side, and Matt Marquis lined out to left. The Terps then executed a perfect hit-and-run, as Kyle Convissar poked the ball through the right side, where Matt Hamlet was stationed before he had to cover the bag. With runners on first and third, Rodriguez hit a blooper to left that just dropped in for a run-scoring single. Wacker loaded the bases with a fantastic bunt in front of the mound, and Cleary scored Convissar with a sac fly to take the lead.

Another botched pickoff in the top of the sixth tied up the game. With Marc Perdios on third, Carroll tried to catch him off guard. Instead, he caught third baseman Convissar off guard, and threw the ball into left field, scoring a run and tying the game at three.

After Maryland took the lead in the seventh on the aforementioned balk, Michael Boyden came in to pitch the eighth. After walking Matt Watson on four pitches, Marc Perdios botched a bunt attempt, popping out to Jake Stinnett at third. Mike Sudol sent a screamer to right field, where 5’9″ Charlie White made an unbelievable leaping catch at the outfield wall and had the presence of mind and the arm strength to double Watson off at first, ending the inning.

“I just got a good jump on it and before I knew it I felt the warning track. It was all instincts, basically,” White said. “I knew I had a good read on it, so I was pretty confident I was going to get to it.”

Wacker moved in from center to pitch the ninth and retired the side, earning his first save of the year. The two teams continue the series Sunday at noon.