After series-opening setback, baseball cruises in Saturday sweep vs. Canisius

Gray, overcast skies hung over Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium on Saturday, a fitting backdrop to a disappointing result the night before for the Terrapin baseball team. A 5-4 loss to Canisius on Friday in the series opener had threatened to derail the Terps' weekend, and the possibility of a series loss to the Golden Griffins lingered ominously as Saturday's doubleheader started.

But despite the bad start and dreary conditions, the Terps were able to recover to sweep the doubleheader and take the series, moving to 7-4 on the year with 6-2 and 9-1 victories.

"We knew we let one get away," catcher Jack Cleary said. "Come out there Friday night, you want to set the tone. But we knew we were going to come back today and stick it to them."

A two-run home run by Michael Montville gave the Terps a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second in the series opener. But the Golden Griffins struck back in the next inning with an RBI groundout. And so the game went: Every time the Terps scored, Canisius answered with runs of its own.

First baseman Tomo Delp's RBI groundout in the third was matched by a Golden Griffin two-RBI single in the next inning. Right fielder Matt Marquis scored on a well-executed suicide squeeze in the fifth, but Canisius countered with an RBI single.

The Terp bats fell silent late, though. And when relief pitcher Chuck Ghysels came on in the eighth with a runner at third, he allowed the game-winning RBI single.

For the first time since the season's opening weekend, Terp pitching struggled, walking nine batters and hitting one to help power Canisius' offense.

"Friday we had some big opportunities and just let them slip away," second baseman Ryan Holland said. "[On Saturday,] we came out with a little chip on our shoulder and knew that we had to play our style of the game. When we had those situations arise, we capitalized."

Starting pitcher David Carroll made sure the Terps rebounded in Saturday's opening game, going seven strong innings and allowing just two runs, enough for his third win in as many starts.

"The pitchers just came out and threw strikes, from Carroll to [Eric] Potter, both games," Cleary said. "When your pitcher's doing that, it's only a matter of time before the offense starts to explode. We've been right on the edge a few times; we just found the barrel today."

The Terps' cause was helped by RBI doubles from Cleary and center fielder Korey Wacker, which got the Terps out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning. The Terps tallied two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings to ensure victory, and the last game of the doubleheader became the series' rubber match.

After three scoreless innings in the series finale, the Terps broke through with four runs in the fourth, with Holland, designated hitter Brandon Padula, Marquis and Cleary all driving in runs.

With the way starter Potter was dealing, that was all they would need.

The senior left-hander went seven innings and struck out six while allowing only one run. He took a no-hitter into the seventh inning before a single broke the streak.

"The starting pitching that we got today was the difference-maker," coach Erik Bakich said. "David Carroll doing what he always does, and Eric Potter taking a no-hitter into the seventh inning."

With the game all but assured, the Terps erupted for five more runs in the bottom of the eighth with Marquis, Padula and Holland all plating runners.

"This second game, I thought we did a much better job of being aggressive and being on the attack and having two big explosions of offense there with the four spot and the five spot," Bakich said. "So that was really good to see."

While the Friday loss was disappointing for the Terps, their resilience in the Saturday doubleheader gave them optimism going forward. No matter how overcast and gray the day had started, they had turned what had began as a dark weekend into a bright one.

"It's always tough to have to learn a lesson with a loss," Bakich said. "But sometimes it takes a loss in order to overcome some mistakes and learn from those mistakes. ... I thought we slipped up on Friday night, but other than that, it's been a pretty clean couple of weeks."

schneider@umdbk.com