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.

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.

Holland. Image from umterps.com.

Maryland baseball continued their strong start to the season with a thrashing of Delaware at home Tuesday afternoon, winning by a final score of 8-0.

Maryland started the scoring in the third with a Tomo Delp RBI single, scoring Alfredo Rodriguez. In the seventh, Maryland’s bats really came alive, blowing the game wide open and putting the score out of reach. Charlie White led off the inning with a double, and Jeremy Hagel followed up with a sacrifice bunt. Delaware’s pitcher, Matt Harden, had an errant throw, scoring White. After a Jack Cleary sacrifice bunt moved Hagel to second, A-Rod walked. Korey Wacker grounded out to Harden, putting runners on second and third with two outs. Tomo Delp was walked, bringing up Ryan Holland with the bases loaded. Holland tripled off the right field wall, scoring all three runners and giving the Terps a 5-0 lead. Holland later scored on a catcher’s balk. I had never seen that before, so here it is, out of the rulebook:

“The catcher shall station himself directly back of the plate. He may leave his position at any time to catch a pitch or make a play except that when the batter is being given an intentional base on balls, the catcher must stand with both feet within the lines of the catcher’s box until the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand. PENALTY: Balk.”

The Terps scored two more runs in the eighth off RBI singles from A-Rod and Korey Wacker.

The story of the game, as has been the case recently, was the strong pitching from Maryland. Chuck Ghysels, who has been the closer for much of the year, started the game on the mound, and pitched three scoreless innings. Jimmy Reed and Michael Boyden followed up with two scoreless innings apiece, and Brady Kirkpatrick pitched one more shutout frame. Wacker moved to the mound from center to pitch the ninth, and set the Blue Hens in order to end the game.

Maryland starts ACC play this weekend at Georgia Tech. They’ve played very well in their out of conference slate, now it’s time to see how they cut it in one of the most competitive conferences in college baseball.

Jamieson had two RBI's on the day, including a single that scored the eventual winning run. Image from hometeamsonline.com.

Maryland baseball’s four-game winning streak ended Friday afternoon after a disappointing loss to defending MAAC regular season champions Canisius, losing 5-4 after a late Golden Griffins comeback.

Maryland ace Sander Beck (0-1) took the mound for the Terps, and pitched to his lead for yet another no decision. The junior from Severna Park allowed three runs on four hits and five walks in five innings, striking out five.

The Terps took the lead in second on a two-run home run by Michael Montville. It was the freshman’s second homer of the year, giving him the team lead on the season. The Golden Griffins, who moved to .500 on the year with the win, chipped at the lead with an RBI ground out from first baseman Brian Burton in the top of the third.

After back-to-back singles by Jack Cleary and Alfredo Rodriguez led off the third inning, the Terps used small ball to bring them home. Korey Wacker bunted both runners over, and an RBI ground out from Tomo Delp scored Cleary to make Maryland’s lead 3-1.

Canisius tied up the game in the top of the fourth as Beck was unable to hold the lead. After giving up a lead-off single to Chris Gruarin, Beck hit Drew Pettit with a pitch. Andrew Russo bunted both runners over, and Beck got Will Chomicki to ground out to third for the second out of the inning. A Ryan Coppinger single brought in both Gruarin and Pettit, however, and the game was tied at three.

Matt Marquis led off the bottom of the fifth with a double to left-center, and advanced to third on a Cleary sacrifice bunt. With a 1-1 count on Alfredo Rodriguez, coach Erik Bakich put the squeeze on, and Marquis scored on the successful bunt to take the lead.

The Golden Griffins would not go away, and tied up the game in the top of the sixth with a two-out rally against reliever Michael Boyden. After Pettit lined out to right and Russo was caught stealing after a walk, Chomicki walked and Coppinger singled him to second. Shortstop Sean Jamieson singled Chomicki home, and the score was tied yet again.

In the top of the eighth, Chomicki led off with a double against Jimmy Reed, and advanced to third on a grounder to short. Closer Chuck Ghysels came in to pitch for Maryland, but gave up a single to Jamieson, scoring the eventual winning run.

Maryland had two runners on with two outs in both the seventh and eighth innings, but were unable to capitalize on their opportunities. Billy Martin retired the side in the ninth to close out the win for the Golden Griffins.

Redshirt senior Shane Davis pitched seven innings for Canisiuis, allowing four runs on seven his and one walk while picking up his first win of the year.

The weekend set concludes tomorrow with a doubleheader starting at noon.

Carroll. Image from Western Nevada College.

After an exciting, come-from-behind 13th inning walk-off victory over Army in the first game of this weekend set, Maryland (4-3) clinched a series victory over the Black Knights (1-5) with a 3-0 shutout at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium Saturday afternoon.

David Carroll (2-0), a transfer from Western Nevada, started the game for the Terps, and pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings. Carroll allowed five hits and two walks, striking out four. It was the junior’s second start of the year, and he moved his ERA down to 0.67.

Michael Boyden (1-0) came in relief for the Terps, earning his first save of the year. The junior transfer from Northwest Shoals CC (Ala.) pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out David Darnell swinging to end the game.

The Terps scored two runs off Army starter Logan Lee in the first inning, in completely opposite ways. Alfredo Rodriguez led off the inning with a walk, took second on a SAC bunt, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a Tomo Delp ground out. The next batter, Brandon Padula, hit a home run to left, the first at Smith Stadium this year.

In the fifth, Rodriguez singled with one out, advanced to second on a throwing error by Lee, and then made it to third on a failed pickoff attempt. Korey Wacker, who went 3-3 with a stolen base the day after pitching four scoreless innings in relief, singled A-Rod home, and that was the end of the scoring for the day.

The last game of the series is tomorrow, February 27th. The first pitch is scheduled for noon ET.

Holland. Image from umterps.com.

After a four-game series against one of the top programs in the country, Maryland returned home for their first game at Bob “Turtle” Smith stadium of the year – a game against in-state rivals Navy. The Terps won thanks to solid pitching and a six-run third inning, defeating the Midshipmen 8-3.

Michael Boyden got the start on the mound for the Terps, and pitched four innings before being pulled. In the second, Boyden struck out the side, including a nasty 12-6 curveball that fooled Greg Dupell.

In the top of the third, Navy got on the board first, after an Andrew Hahn sacrifice fly scored Nick Driscoll, who got on base with a leadoff single. The Terps fought back in the bottom of the inning, scoring six runs – two each from a Korey Wacker double, a Time Kiene single, and a Curtis Lazar single.

Second baseman Ryan Holland had a great day at the plate for the Terps, going 3-4 with a double, two runs and a walk. Freshman left fielder Michael Montville went 2-2 with two walks, and stole a base.

For Navy, most of the offense was provided by Hahn, who drove in all three of the Midshipmen’s runs. Driscoll and Brandon Beans were the only two Navy players with a multi-hit game (each with two), and Driscoll scored two runs.

The Terps got a quality performance from their bullpen, who combined to allow two runs in five innings. Brady Kirkpatrick replaced Boyden and allowed one run in two innings, but the most impressive outing of the night was that of the one-two punch of Chuck Ghysels and Wacker, who pitched the eighth and ninth.

After getting into a bit of trouble, allowing a lead-off double, Ghysels struck out the next two batters he faced and got a flyout to end the eighth. The junior transfer was an honorable mention JuCo All-American at Lincoln Trail CC, and was a 36th round draft pick of the Reds.

Wacker moved from center field to the mound to close it out, and struck out two batters in a perfect inning.

The Terps have a three-game series at home this weekend against Army. The first game is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET this Friday, February 25.