April 19, 2014
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Mott Hyde had two hits and Devin Stanton was solid on the mound, but Maryland took the series from No. 25 Georgia Tech with a 4-1 win Saturday afternoon at Shipley Field in College Park, Md.
The Terrapins improved to 24-13 overall and 9-10 in the ACC, while the Yellow Jackets slipped to 24-16, 10-10.
For the second straight game, Tech had opportunities but was unable to get momentum going with runners in scoring position. The Yellow Jackets left nine stranded in the game, including five in scoring position. Of the nine Jackets left stranded in Friday’s loss, seven were in position to score.
Trailing 2-1, Tech’s best threat came in the eighth after loading the bases with one as Hyde and Matt Gonzalez ripped back-to-back singles up the middle to get the inning started. A sacrifice bunt moved both into scoring position, and A.J. Murray was walked intentionally.
But as the Jackets’ defense had done four times previously in the game, this time Maryland reliever Kevin Mooney dodged the jam by rolling a double play to preserve the lead. The Yellow Jackets matched their season by turning four double plays, and now lead the nation in that category with 50 this season.
After escaping with the lead, the Terps tacked on two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth and Mooney closed it out in the ninth for his seventh save.
Maryland starter Mike Shawaryn improved to 7-2 by scattering five hits over his six innings on the mound with no walks, one run and nine strikeouts. Bobby Ruse and Ben Brewster combined for a scoreless seventh and Mooney finished it off.
Murray’s RBI single to score Hyde, who led off the sixth inning with a single, was the Jackets’ only scoring. Tech came up empty after a leadoff double by Keenan Innis in the third, left Thomas Smith at second after his two-out double in the fourth and were kept off the board after the first two Jackets reached safely in the fifth.
Stanton yielded just two runs over his 5.1 innings on the mound with two strikeouts but fell to 3-2. He induced double plays in the first, fourth and fifth, while reliever Jonathan Roberts got Kevin Martir to line into an inning-ending twin-killing that kept the score at 2-1 in the sixth.
The finale of the series is set for Sunday at 1 p.m. with Matthew Grimes on the mound for the Yellow Jackets.
