April 18, 2014
THE FLATS – No. 25 Georgia Tech jumped on Maryland early, but the Terrapins rallied late for a 7-2 victory Friday night at Shipley Field in College Park to open the ACC weekend series.
Daniel Spingola had two hits, two walks, an RBI and scored for the Yellow Jackets, who slipped to 24-15 overall and 10-9 in the ACC. The Terrapins got a complete-game performance from Jake Stinnett and improved to 23-13, 8-10.
Spingola singled to lead the game off and eventually scored on Thomas Smith’s grounder for a 1-0 lead in the first inning. It marks the fifth straight game that Spingola has both singled and scored in the first. The junior from Roswell, Ga. came through again with an RBI single scoring Keenan Innis for a 2-0 lead.
But Stinnett, who limited Tech’s damage to just a run in the first inning after the first three Jackets reached safely, was lights out after that, while his offense chipped away.
Tim Lewis’ RBI single put Maryland on the board in the second, and he struck again with a game-tying single during a three-run seventh that put the hosts up for good. A squeeze bunt from Charlie White made it 3-2 in the seventh, and the big blow came from Jose Cuas in the eighth, a three-run blast to left.
Blake Schmidt was on base three times for the Terrapins and scored three times.
Stinnett tossed 141 pitches over his third complete game, scattered five hits and four walks with 10 strikeouts and improved to 4-5.
The tough-luck loss fell to Josh Heddinger (2-2), who kept Maryland at bay over the first five innings, and turned the 2-1 lead over to his bullpen with two on and one out in the seventh. Heddinger fanned six, but was on the hook for four hits, four runs and two walks.
Spingola extended his hitting streak to eight games with his 2-for-3 effort.
The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. with lefty Devin Stanton on the mound.
