May 3, 2014
COLLEGE PARK, Md. –
The University of Notre Dame baseball team took a 2-0 lead on a Ryan Bull homer in the second inning but couldn’t hang on as the Maryland Terrapins scored runs in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings to claim a 6-2 victory Saturday afternoon at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium and clinch the weekend series with one game to play.
Maryland took the lead for good in the fourth inning as Irish starter Michael Hearne ran into trouble after recording seven consecutive outs between the first and third innings. Back-to-back singles to open the frame from LaMonte Wade and Brandon Lowe got the Terrapins going. With one out, Blake Schmit hit a rocket to right field that nipped off the glove of a diving Youngdahl after a lengthy run. On the play Wade scored, Schmit advanced to second for a double and Lowe moved to third. Up stepped Tim Lewis, who put down a sac bunt that scored Lowe after Hearne attempted to look off the latter and then throw out the former. However, the look off wasn’t long enough and Lowe took off with the throw and just beat out a toss back from Lezynski at first base. With two outs, a critical throwing error by third baseman Kyle Fiala allowed Mike Rescigno to advance safely to first and score Schmit to give Maryland the 3-2 lead.
Maryland added to its lead in the fifth as a double by Lowe down the right-field line scored Charlie White from second and increased the Terps’ lead to 4-2. The Terrapins put the game away with two more runs in the bottom of the seventh as Lewis hit a two-run single through the right side to push the score to 6-2 after the bases were intentionally loaded to set up a lefty-lefty matchup.
Hearne (4-5) went 7.2 innings and gave up six runs (five earned) on nine hits and three walks. He struck out one in 93 pitches.
Despite not having his regular strong outing, Hearne’s offense and defense didn’t help him out much as the Irish notched only four hits while the defense committed two errors.
Notre Dame scored its lone runs of the series thus far in the second as Ryan Bull bashed his second home run of the year and fifth of his career on a 3-1 pitch to score Ryan Lidge and give the Irish a 2-0 lead entering the bottom half of the frame. The homer was just the seventh of the year for the Irish and the first since Blaise Lezynski hit a solo shot against Central Michigan April 23. For the year, Notre Dame hit three homers in February, two in March, one in April and now one in May.
Notre Dame’s best opportunity to score more runs came in the seventh after Forrest Johnson (single) and Lidge (E5T) gave the Irish a pair of runners on base with one out. Later in the frame with two outs, pinch hitter Kyle Richardson drew a six-pitch walk to load the bases. After a pitching change brought in LHP Ben Brewster, pinch hitter Ricky Sanchez stepped to the plate. On the first pitch, the ball got past catcher Kevin Martir and set off a series of plays where all the Irish runners left their bases, Martir threw to second base, shortstop Schmit collected the toss and went right back home where Johnson was tagged out by Martir at the plate to end the inning.
Picking up the win for the Terrapins was Shawaryn, who improved to 8-3 after allowing two runs on four hits. After Shawaryn exited, Ben Brewster picked up his second save of the season by going 2.1 innings and not allowing a hit while striking out two batters.
Notre Dame (17-29, 4-19 ACC) and Maryland (27-19, 11-14 ACC) conclude their ACC series at 1 p.m. Sunday. Fans can follow the action for free through WatchND’s audio broadcast (WHME 103.1 FM in South Bend) or live stats. Maryland will also offer a video stream for $9.95. Links for all three are on UND.com. Notre Dame baseball’s Twitter account @NDBaseball will provide updates as well.
–Russell Dorn, Assistant Media Relations Director
–ND–