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

Terrapin baseball freshman first baseman Curtis Lazar could not have picked a better time for his first career home run.

With two men on base and the game tied in the top of the sixth inning of the Terps' Sunday game at Virginia Tech, Lazar delivered a game-winning three-run homer, bringing the eventual final score to 5-4 and providing the Terps with their first ACC series win of the season.

The win puts the Terps (18-14, 5-10) back in the picture for an ACC tournament berth and gives the team its fourth win in five games.

"I'm just trying to work as hard as I can at taking care of the situations that they give me," Lazar said of his homer off of Virginia Tech pitcher Andrew Wells. "[Wells] hung one in there, and I took care of it. It definitely meant more with it being in a conference game because right now we're on the fringe and that win put us in good position."

Yesterday's game was only Lazar's third start of the season, but the Stafford, Va., native, who was also recruited by the Hokies, has made his presence felt with a .444 batting average.

"We put [Lazar] in there yesterday and he performed well, so we went back with him today, and he got a curveball that hung up and got a hold of it and drove it out," coach Terry Rupp said. "As a team we played well in all aspects."

Senior starting pitcher Kevin Biringer pitched his best game of the season en route to his third win, with six innings of two-run work. Biringer's performance was much needed, as the Terps gave up eight runs in each of the first two games of the series.

"I thought Kevin threw extremely well against Clemson last week, even though he gave up two runs early," Rupp said. "He came back, had all three pitches working and kept [Virginia Tech] off balance. And they had been swinging pretty well."

Sophomore ace Scott Swinson seemed to be continuing his recent success against ACC foes in Friday night's series opener. Swinson carried a 5-0 lead into the fourth inning but gave up five earned runs in the next two innings.

Virginia Tech first baseman Sean O'Brien hit his third home run of the game in the bottom of the seventh to give the Hokies an 8-7 lead; the score would hold for Virginia Tech's first conference victory of 2008.

In Saturday's game, the Terps came out aggressive again, plating eight runs in the first three innings. But junior starter Jensen Pupa gave up four runs in three innings pitched and had to be replaced on the mound because of a shoulder injury.

Rupp said the team would re-evaluate Pupa's injury this week, but he said he doesn't think it's serious.

Pupa remained in the lineup and made up for his pitching line with three hits and three RBIs, but the Terps' bullpen could not slow down the Hokies until senior Mike Sufczynski entered the game and pitched five scoreless innings for his second win in three games. The Terps went on to win 13-8.

Then came Lazar's homer yesterday, an impressive shot that cleared the scoreboard in right field. Maybe more impressive than the length of the home run was that it was a freshman who delivered in a game the Terps had to have to stay in tournament contention.

But for Lazar, the importance of the moment had more to do with hard work paying off than with any individual accomplishments.

"Being a freshman, it feels good," Lazar said. "But I try to work my butt off and get the job done just like anyone else on the team. I don't think it matters what year I am, just that the coaches have confidence in me to get the job done."

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