With the tying run 90 feet away, Maryland turned a 4-6-3 game-ending double play to seal a dramatic 4-3 victory over top-seeded South Carolina Saturday night at Carolina Stadium snapping the Gamecocks 28-game postseason home winning streak and sending the Terps into the Columbia Regional final.
With one out in the top of the ninth and South Carolina runners at first and third, closer Kevin Mooney induced a ground ball from Joey Pankake to Brandon Lowe. Lowe quickly gathered the ball fired it to Blake Schmit who tagged second and threw a strike to LaMonte Wade to clinch the victory sending Terrapin players streaming from the dugout in celebration.
The victory secures a spot in the region final. Maryland (38-21) will meet the winner of South Carolina and Campbell Sunday night at 7 p.m. with a spot in the Super Regionals at stake. The Gamecocks and Camels square off at 1 p.m. Sunday.
“I am really happy the way our guys responded in that atmosphere under some duress,” said head coach John Szefc. “We did a great job of hanging in there. I think the turning point in that game was when they had second and third and no outs [in the sixth inning] and Mike [Shawaryn] was able to minimize that to two runs. That was a spot that really kept us in there.
“Obviously, we are really happy to be sitting where we are sitting at this point, but it is just the second win. We’re not here just to get two wins. We are here to finish this thing off and that is our mindset going into tomorrow.”
A fantastic pitching performance from starter Mike Shawaryn set the stage for relievers Bobby Ruse and Mooney to preserve the win. In the last four innings Saturday, Maryland’s pitchers managed to strand six Carolina base runners including the potential tying run at third in the eighth and ninth innings. from umterps.com
No comments have been posted yet, be the first!
Post a comment by filling out the form below.
