Diamondback Online - The University of Maryland's Independent Daily Student Newspaper

Down two to Lafayette in the bottom of the first inning yesterday, the Terrapin baseball team loaded the bases with one out.

In a situation where a run or two would've put the Terps right back in the game and given them a good chance to complete a weekend series sweep, freshman right fielder A.J. Casario struck out swinging, and designated hitter Chad Durakis finished the inning with a ground out to third.

"We had bases loaded in that first inning, and we couldn't cash in. That really hurt us," coach Terry Rupp said.

The Leopards used the momentum gained from preserving the lead to put four more on the board in the top of the second and cruised to a 7-2 win at Shipley Field, halting the Terps' 18-game home winning streak against non-ACC opponents.

The Terp bullpen stepped up, giving up only one run and four hits in 7.1 innings after starter Kevin Biringer failed to make it out of the second.

However, Lafayette's Jeremy Atkins silenced the Terps' bats in his first start of the season and allowed only one run in seven innings, pitching out of trouble several times.

"We got down early, and they had a couple of balls find some holes here and there," senior shortstop Dan Melvin said. "It's tough. Guys just start pushing a little bit and trying to make up ground."

On Saturday, the Terps (9-3) didn't have that problem.

They went down 2-0 early but came back behind Casario's hitting for a 7-4 victory.

The left-handed Casario, who went 0-4 with two strikeouts on Friday against lefty Ted Gjeldum, had a four-hit, two-RBI day after being dropped from second to seventh in the batting order with another left-hander on the mound.

Casario said he spent two hours in the batting cage after Friday's 4-2 win and decided he needed to relax and be more patient.

"When something like that happens, the best thing you can do is just forget about it and pretend that it didn't happen," Casario said. "You just have to come out and bring your A-game the next two days."

The Terps won on Friday behind Casey Baron, who pitched into the ninth for the first time in his career.

They got all four of their runs in the second inning, facilitated by a throwing error by Gjeldum.

"We played well defensively, and we didn't make any errors. They made one error, and we capitalized," Rupp said.

The Leopards got the tying run to second base in the ninth before closer Brett Cecil induced the game-ending ground out.

While Casario was happy his team won its last series before ACC play begins next weekend, Casario couldn't help feeling unsatisfied.

"[Lafayette is] a decent team. I really think they got a lucky one [yesterday], but I don't know. They're all right," he said.

Contact reporter Eric Detweiler at edetweilerdbk@gmail.com.

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