It's Friday night and you are a fan of University of Maryland Athletic Teams. In all probability, you were watching the Terrapin Basketball Team in the near-mythical ACC Basketball Tournament. You are very happy. What you missed, most likely, is the baseball team's victory over unbeaten and No. 12-ranked Florida State.
Maryland led from beginning to end in whacking No. 2 Duke. Dez Wells was nothing short of outstanding, scoring over 30 points and steadying his young teammates at many crucial junctures. Maryland has now beaten Wake Forest and Duke on consecutive nights to improve to 22-11. They are back in the national tournament discussion. But for all of the giddiness, Maryland still faces at least one and, hopefully, two more games in Greensboro, North Carolina. Tomorrow they play the winner of North Carolina and Florida State. Maryland has a serious score to settle with Florida State, having lost two nail-biters to the Seminoles during the regular season. I firmly believe Maryland will win that match-up. As for the Tar Heels, Maryland played them in College Park about two weeks ago, and the game did not go well. North Carolina led most of the way and in all candor, won easily. It seems that the Terps have match-up problems with the smaller, stronger, faster, better-shooting line-up that Roy Williams has been using since mid-season. But the Maryland team that played North Carolina just those few short games ago is not the same team that is in Greensboro. These Terps seem, finally, to be getting their hell-bent coach's message about brutal defense and smart play. Against Wake Forest on Thursday night they played a first-half that reminded all Terp fans why they came to Greensboro in need of at least three wins to get the attention of the lads picking the NCAA tournament field. But beginning after the half on Thursday, Maryland has been playing like a team on a serious mission. As they wait to see who they will play tomorrow afternoon (as I write, North Carolina has opened a ten-point lead on Florida State with about two minutes left in the first half), Maryland has to have more confidence than at any time this season. Their dismantling of Duke was complete. Although Mason Plumlee, to his credit, more than held his own in his match-up with the Terps' towering 7'1" center, Alex Len, his high-scoring teammate, Seth Curry, was shut-out in the first half and finished with 15. For the Terps, Wells had 33 and four other Terps - Alex Len, Seth Allen, Nick Faust and Jake Layman - each finished with ten points.
On the chilly baseball diamond Friday night (the game started at 6:30 pm), Maryland got eight outstanding innings from senior Jimmy Reed, and the Terps rallied for two runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to defeat previously unbeaten Florda State, 5-3.
With the score tied, 3-3 in the 8th, Jordan Hagel tripled to leadoff and scored on a wild pitch. K. J. Hockaday, who had walked right after Hagel's triple, took second on the same wild pitch. He scored when Freshman Lamont Wade bashed a double.
In the ninth, first-year coach John Szefc summonsed Freshman Kevin Mooney to pitch against the 16-0 Seminoles. All that Mooney did was set down Florida State in order for his first save. In his last three outings, Mooney has started and pitched six shut-out innings to earn a win over Princeton, throw two and one-third shut-out innings in relief to earn a win at Virginia, and retire Florida State in order in the ninth to enable his team to win a second straight conference game. Maryland improves to 12-5 and 2-2 in the ACC.
The three-game series with the Seminoles continues tomorrow at 1:30 pm at Turtle Smith Stadium. The finale is Sunday afternoon.
No comments:
Post a Comment