Sometimes in life you make the right decision and sometimes a decision is made for you. I had one of those moments Saturday night. With the University of Maryland baseball team playing its NCAA Tournament games on the west coast, I managed to watch the Terrapins take a 4-1 lead after three and a half innings over the tournament’s top seed and home standing UCLA Bruins.
My clock read 12:30 a.m. and my body began sending intense sleep signals as my focus started blurring. I decided to listen to those signals and turned off the ESPN3 stream knowing that, when I woke up, the Terps would have either held that lead…or not.
I rarely sleep uninterruptedly through the night. But I resisted the temptation to check the computer or phone when I woke a 2:45 and again at 5:30. When I finally stirred at about 7:15 Sunday morning, I fired up my computer to check the final score. It read Maryland four UCLA one. I’d gotten a good night’s sleep and, while I might have missed some threats, I hadn’t missed any scoring. I had made the right decision.
Here’s what I saw
The Terps sent freshman right hander Brian Shaffer to the mound to start the game and UCLA nicked him for an unearned run in the top of the first. That’s not a misprint. Despite playing on their home field, UCLA was nominally the visiting team. That’s just how the NCAA Tournament works. As the lower seed, Maryland had been the visiting team Friday night in their game against Ole Miss. Conversely, the top seeded Bruins had been the home team to start the double elimination regional. Saturday night, the home and visitors roles were reversed.
UCLA shortstop Kevin Kramer reached on a one out throwing error by his Maryland counterpart, Kevin Smith. Shaffer then hit Ty Moore with a pitch and Luke Persico laid a perfect bunt down the third base line that loaded the bases. Chris Keck skied to left driving in Kramer but Shaffer escaped the inning with no further damage.
The Bruins feature perhaps the best pitching in the NCAA with a 2.16 team earned run average. They started senior Grant Watson who carried a 2.08 ERA into his 16th start of the season.
Watson had been almost unhittable in his home park with only one start in which he had yielded more than one earned run and his previous postseason record was nearly as impeccable. When he induced an inning ending double play grounder from the Terps’ top hitter, Brandon Lowe, after LaMonte Wade had led off with a single, the prospect of a long night loomed.
That prospect was short lived. Shaffer tossed a scoreless second giving up a two out double to Bruins’ center fielder Christoph Bono (son of former 49ers quarterback Steve Bono). Shaffer was aided by a stellar play by Wade in center field for the second consecutive night.
Left fielder Brett Stephens followed Bono’s double with a single to center but Wade uncorked a perfect one hop throw to Martir nailing Bono at the plate. The Terps then jumped on Watson in the bottom half of the inning.
Just as Wade had started the game with a single to center, catcher Kevin Martir led off the second the same way. Jose Cuas looped a liner into shallow left center but made a nice running catch nearly doubling Martir off first but the Terps catcher just beat the throw back to the base.
Nick Cieri fell behind in the count 0-2 but fouled off a few pitches before grounding a single up the middle. Anthony Papio looked at a third strike but Tim Lewis, batting from the left side, sliced Watson’s first pitch down the left field line. Left fielder Brett Stephens made a poor read and got a late jump. He came up short on his diving attempt and the ball, which landed about two feet fair, rolled all the way to the wall for a two RBI triple giving Maryland a 2-1 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
A pitching change and extending the lead
With head coach John Czefc serving the second game of his two game suspension, acting head coach Jim Belanger opted to sit Shaffer after two innings and brought in senior Bobby Ruse to start the third. Ruse continued his postseason success retiring the Bruins in order. He would extend his streak to 11 consecutive batters retired before fading a bit in the fourth and giving way to Rob Galligan who would shut UCLA down over the next four and a third allowing just two base runners over that stretch.
Throughout the series, the broadcasters had talked about the thickness of the Los Angeles night air and the difficulty of driving a ball out of Jackie Robinson Stadium. Well, leading off the Maryland third, Wade put a lie to that when he obliterated a 1-1 pitch from Watson ripping a line drive over the right field fence. But the Terps weren’t done.
Smith followed Wade’s blast slicing a double to right. He moved to third on Lowe’s sacrifice bunt and scored on Martir’s ground out to second. The Terps led 4-1 at the end of three.
UCLA’s biggest threat came in the fourth inning. After retiring the first two batters, Ruse gave up a two out single to Kort Peterson and walked Trent Chatterton prompting Belanger to put in the call for Galligan. Just as he had Friday night, the junior lefty from Syosset, NY, walked the first batter he faced. The Bruins had the bases loaded with two out but Galligan induced lead off hitter Stephens into a high bouncer to Lowe to end the inning.
Galligan gave up a one out infield single in the fifth but retired the last 11 batters he faced. The Terps mounted mild threats in the fifth and seventh innings putting two on with one out in the former and getting Kevin Biondic to third with two outs after his one out double in the latter but they failed to push another run across.
Kevin Mooney came on to start the ninth and close out the game. Mooney continued to blister his way through the postseason striking out the first two batters he faced and retiring Chatterton on a fly ball to right earning his 10th save of the season and fifth since postseason play began.
With the win, Maryland improves to 41-21 and has now surpassed the single season record of 40 wins set in 2014. More importantly, the Terps move on to the regional championship game and need just one more win to advance to the Super Regional for the second consecutive year.
Sunday afternoon (evening in the east) UCLA will take on Cal State Bakersfield who eliminated Ole Miss on Saturday. The winner of that contest will then have to face the Terps Sunday night in a game scheduled to start at about 11:00 p.m. Eastern time. If Maryland wins, the Terps advance to play the winner of the UC Santa Barbara region where third seeded Virginia holds a similar advantage. Should the Terps fall Sunday night, the teams will then meet in a rematch Monday night with the winner of that contest moving on to the best two out of three Super Regional.
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