Wake Forest University
Maryland
Deacs Drop Series Opener to Maryland, 7-4
5/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 8, 2009
Box Score | Box Score in PDF Format 
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Maryland starter Brett Harman threw a complete game, allowing four runs on eight hits, to lift the Terrapins to a 7-4 victory over Wake Forest in the series opener on Friday night at Shipley Field.
Wake Forest drops to 21-25 and 6-19 in Atlantic Coast Conference play with the loss, while Maryland improves to 25-26 and 8-20 in league play.
The loss officially eliminates the Demon Deacons from the ACC Tournament.
The pitching of Harman was the story of the game. The sophomore from Westminster, Md., threw the first complete game of his career, tossing 137 pitches in the game and improving his record to 4-5. He allowed four runs on eight hits and tied a career high with 10 strikeouts, while only walking one batter.
Phil Negus suffered the loss to drop to 2-5 on the season. He allowed five runs on eight hits in 6 2/3 innings. The junior struck out five and also allowed five bases on balls. Alex Wiesner threw a scoreless inning in relief, giving up a hit and striking out a batter.
Mike Murray led Wake Forest at the plate with two hits and also drove in a run. Bentley Heyman, Evan Ocheltree, who hit his 10th homer in the game, and Austin Stadler each added an RBI in the loss.
Will Greenberg and Dan Benick each had three hits to lead the Terrapin offense. Benick drove in two runs and scored twice, while Tyler Bennett also added two RBIs.
Maryland had the first scoring chance of the game in the bottom of the second. After the first two batters of the inning were retired, Gerry Spessard singled to center field. Benick placed a double down the left field line to advance Spessard to third. Negus got out of the threat by getting Alfredo Rodriguez to fly out to left for the third out of the inning.
Wake Forest grabbed the lead with a run in the top of the third. Ocheltree hit a one-out solo home run over the left-field fence, his 10th home run of the season and 28th of his career, to give the Deacs a 1-0 lead.
The Terrapins had another scoring threat in the third, but once again, Negus was able to wiggle out of trouble. Maryland loaded the bases with two outs, but Bennett grounded into a fielder's choice to short as Bentley Heyman flipped to Dustin Hood at second base to retire David Poutier to end the inning.
The Demon Deacons added a run in the top of the fourth. Weldon Woodall drew a one-out walk and moved to second on Tyler Smith's ground out to first base. Heyman blooped a single down the right-field line to plate Woodall and make the score 2-0.
Maryland got on the board with a run in the bottom of the fourth. Benick lined a single to center field and rounded the bases on Rodriguez's double to left field.
The Terrapins grabbed their first lead of the game with two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Mike Murphy reached on a throwing error by Heyman to start the inning. Will Greenberg singled to move Murphy to second. Poutier attempted to move the runners up a base with a sacrifice bunt but Negus threw to Kroker at third to retire Murphy for the first out of the inning. After Greenberg moved to third on a wild pitch and Poutier stole second, Bennett doubled to the right-center field gap to score two runs and give Maryland a 3-2 lead.
Maryland broke the game open with four runs in the bottom of the seventh. Greenberg started the rally with a one-out single. Bennett drew a walk with two outs to put runners at first and second. Matthew Murakami hit a pinch-hit single to center field to score Greenberg for Maryland's fourth run of the game. Benick cleared the bases with a double to make the score 6-2. Jensen Pupa drew a walk with runners at the corners and two outs. Rodriguez stole second on the play and Benick stole home after Murray's throw to second was late.
The Demon Deacons got a run back in the top of the eighth. With two outs, Dustin Hood reached on an infield single. Murray double off the center-field wall to score Hood to cut the lead to 7-3.
Wake Forest scored its fourth run of the game in the top of the ninth. Tyler Smith led off the inning with a double and crossed the plate on Austin Stadler's pinch-hit, two-out RBI single to center field.
Wake Forest and Maryland continue the three-game weekend series on Saturday at 4 p.m. Freshman Michael Dimock (4-3, 6.48) will start for the Demon Deacons, while the Terrapins will send LHP Adam Kolarek (2-1, 4.50) to the mound.
