Wednesday’s game again Elon was not a “must win” for the Maryland Terrapins’ baseball team, as the season is still young. However, with the Terps riding five-game losing streak, a good showing in the last game of the North Carolina road trip would be a confidence boost the team desperately needed.
Behind strong performances on the mound and at the plate, the Terps, who have been on the wrong end of blowouts recently, picked up a 11-3 win over the Phoenix to put an end to their woes.
During the losing streak, neither the offense nor the pitching staff deserved all the blame for the struggles–both contributed to the rough stretch. Maryland had only scored five runs in the past four contests, while allowing 39. On Wednesday, both sides righted the ship.
An offense that has been haunted by an inability to get the big hits with runners in scoring position finally got some consistency, while scoring its third-highest run total of the season. When senior Zach Jancarski scored on junior Nick Dunn’s sacrifice-fly in the first inning, it was the first time Maryland had a lead since last Tuesday against Delaware.
That early lead against the Phoenix was never relinquished, as the offense continued to add runs throughout the contest, scoring in all but three innings. The entire Maryland lineup contributed to the win, with every batter except Nick Dunn, who still drove in a run, recording a hit. Freshman Tommy Gardiner continued to produce for the Terps with two hits and two RBI’s, while AJ Lee added a hit and two RBI’s and Marty Costes drove in three runs, one of which came on his second homer of the season, his first in over a month . Costes, who had a rough start to the 2018 season, now holds a batting average of .200 for the first time since the end of February.
A combined seven Elon pitchers allowed the 11 runs, as starter Ryan Conroy exited after only one inning of work and the Phoenix realized they needed to rely on their bullpen.
Coming off a performance in which the Terps’ pitchers allowed 13 runs to the Tar Heels on Tuesday, the staff rebounded in a big way against Elon. Maryland also relied on its bullpen, as redshirt freshman Mike Vasturia got the start. But, the team used only six pitchers to finish the game with none throwing more than two innings. Vasturia along with Elliot Zoellner, Grant Burleson, Sean Fisher, Kevin Biondic and John Murphy combined to allow two earned runs and eight hits in nine innings, with Vasturia earning the first win of his collegiate career.
Elon’s offense, which entered the game averaging over 15 runs per game in their sweep of Rider last weekend, could not muster up any offense against the Terps. Juniors James Venuto and Liam O’Regan both drove in a run for the Phoenix, but they were held to three runs on eight hits, unable to make any big scoring efforts.
Maryland’s trip to North Carolina ends with a 1-4 record and the team will now head back to College Park to finish off a stretch of nine games in thirteen days, starting a three game series against Stetson beginning Friday at 4 p.m.
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