Maryland earns series sweep on Sunday

COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Maryland scored five runs in the first two innings and it was enough to hold off the Bryant University baseball team, 7-3, on Sunday afternoon at Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium.

The Terrapins (4-2) were held to just three hits but was able to earn a series sweep of the Bulldogs (0-3). Bryant picked up seven hits in the contest.

Maryland didn't waste any time getting on the board as it scored five runs in the first two innings. Brandon Lowe walked, moved to third on a single and scored the first run of the game as Kevin Martir beat out a potential inning-ending double play. Martir scored two batters later on a wild pitch to make it 2-0. In the second, a double, walk and a throwing error loaded the bases with no outs. Charlie White was hit and Lowe walked, forcing in a pair of runs and knocking senior Vaughn Hayward (Glendale, R.I.) from the game. LaMonte Wade capped the scoring with a sac fly to center.

Following the Wade sac fly, Bryant's bullpen held the Terps in check and the offense came to life. Michael Marshall (Maynard, Mass.) came on in relief of Hayward and worked three perfect innings of relief. He picked off a runner and picked up his first-career strikeout to end the inning. Marshall then retired the Terrapins in order in each of the next two frames. Freshman Jack Patterson (Suffield, Conn.) followed Marshall and retired six of the seven batters he faced over two scoreless innings. He walked the first batter he faced but stranded him at second with the first strikeout of his career, and then tossed a perfect sixth.

Held scoreless over the first 20 innings of the season, Bryant finally got on the board in the third. Sophomore Dan Cellucci (Sudbury, Mass.) doubled inside the third base bag to start the inning and moved to third on a sac bunt from senior Jonathan Scott (Princeton, N.J.). Junior Jordan Mountford (Guelph, Ont.) followed with a single up the middle to score Cellucci with the first run of the game.

The Bulldogs would tack on single runs in the fifth and seventh, pulling within 5-3. In the fifth, junior Daniel St. George (Shelton, Conn.) reached on a throwing error to start the inning, moved to third on a sac bunt and scored on a Scott ground out to second base. A two-out rally produced Bryant's run in the seventh. Sophomore Buck McCarthy (Saugus, Mass.) started the rally with a single to right field and freshman Cole Fabio (Mahwah, N.J.) followed by smacking a 3-2 pitch down the right field line for an RBI double. It was the first career hit and RBI for Fabio. Bryant's rally, however, was cut short as a caught stealing abruptly ended the inning.

Maryland tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the seventh to close its scoring. Andrew Amaro walked to start the inning and scored on a wild pitch, and Anthony Papio delivered a sac fly to center to make it 7-3.

Hayward (0-1) allowed five runs (three earned) on three hits in one inning of work. The relief quartet of Marshall, Patterson, freshman Brandon Bingel (Peabody, Mass.) and junior Trevor Lacosse (Watervliet, N.Y.) held the Terrapins hitless over the final seven innings. Marshall struck out two in his first career appearance, Patterson walked one and struck out one, Bingel allowed two runs in the seventh and Lacosse struck out four of the five batters he faced, including the side in order in the eighth, to close the door. Sophomore AJ Zarozny (Shrewsbury, Mass.) paced the offense with a pair of hits.

The Bulldogs return to the diamond next weekend with a three-game series at USC Upstate.