BALTIMORE, Maryland June 2, 2014 - Who would ever think that mentioning Maryland's Baseball Team and College World Series in the same sentence would make good sense?
Guess what? On June 1, 2014 it makes perfect sense. That's the day Maryland routed powerful South Carolina, 10-1, to claim an NCAA Regional Title and a berth in next weekend's Super Regional in Charlottesville, Virginia against the very powerful Cavaliers. Except Maryland already knows they can beat Virginia. They just did it last weekend at the ACC Tournament, a tournament they didn't win only because they lost the Championship game.
The win over the Gamecocks was the second in as many nights for these most unlikely Terrapins. Maryland had not played in the NCAA Baseball Tournament since 1971. Before this weekend, Maryland had the grand total of one victory in that tournament in the history of the program, and that one win was in 1970. Playing in one of the very best baseball conferences in the USA, Maryland has set records for futility that will never be challenged. All of that changed two years ago when the school hired veteran coach John Szefc and, at the same time, began an upgrade of the baseball program. Now in his second season at the school, Szefc very quietly recruited the kind of players he needed to compete in the powerful ACC. Last season, Maryland began to make in-roads in the baseball-crazy conference, but still failed to qualify for the ACC Tournament, which, since 2006 did not invite every baseball-playing school in the conference. Maryland hasn't played in the tournament since that change was made. Even this year Maryland needed an incredible final run to make the ACC Field in this, the school's last season in the ACC. Maryland moves to the Big Ten next season, and while that will be an upgrade in many NCAA sports, baseball isn't one of them. The ACC sent seven schools to this year's NCAA Tournament, while the Big Ten sent two.
This year's Maryland team tripled the number of NCAA Tournament wins the school has in just one weekend. They beat Old Dominion on Friday and then they defeated South Carolina on consecutive nights in front of a packed house of over 8,000 roaring fans at the Gamecock's new baseball stadium. Before Saturday's game, South Carolina had won 28 straight home NCAA games in a streak dating back to 2002. Maryland has never hosted an NCAA game. Saturday night, Maryland pushed across four runs in the first two innings, then held on for dear life in a 4-3 victory. Sunday night the Terps showed they wanted no part of a nail biter. After falling behind, 1-0, in the first inning, the Terps broke through and scored twice with two outs in the fourth inning on a single by Blake Schmit. They then proceeded to score in virtually every at bat until the score stood at 10-1 going to the bottom of the ninth and South Carolina's last at bat. Five different Terps knocked in runs, and Schmit knocked in three.
Five Maryland players were named to the All Regional Team, including center fielder Charlie White, who was named it Most Outstanding Player. Joining White were Schmit, Lamont Wade, Kevin Martir and Mike Shawaryn.
The most astounding part of the win was Maryland's ability to hold South Carolina to a single run even though its two best pitchers, Shawaryn and Senior Jake Stinnett - who pitched eight innings on Friday - were not available. Szefc used number three starter Jake Drossner and two bullpen pitchers to stymie the Gamecocks. Drossner went three and two-thirds, followed by Taylor Stiles, who went two innings, and Bobby Ruse, who pitched the final three and one-third. Stiles, a freshman, picked up the win and it was his second of the Regional. He was also the winning pitcher Friday against Old Dominion. Ruse earned the save.
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