Amid defeats, a weighty win for baseball

Coach Erik Bakich admits that it's usually hard to take any positives from a 1-3 road trip. But when that result comes in a four-game series at No. 6 Texas, things don't look quite as bad for the Terrapin baseball team.

Even after a three-loss weekend, Bakich and the Terps (1-3) are confident that they are closer to the team that routed the Longhorns, 10-1, in the second game of the series than the one that was blown out in the finale, 16-0.

"I think we held our own pretty good against a top-10 team in the country," Bakich said. "I think it's a glimpse. It's a glimpse of what this team is capable of."

After dropping their season opener Friday night, 8-0, following a dominant pitching performance by Longhorn starter and second-team All-American Taylor Jungmann, the Terps bounced back in the second game on the strength of contributions from newcomers to the squad.

Infielder Tomo Delp, a College of Southern Nevada transfer, hit a three-run home run in the top of the first to give the Terps a lead they wouldn't relinquish.

As the Terps got to Longhorn (3-1) pitching, pitcher David Carroll, a transfer from Western Nevada, was dominant in his Terp debut. The 6-foot-8 right-hander went six innings, allowing only one run on three hits and just one Longhorn baserunner in his final four innings.

"We sort of just came out and shocked them," said shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez, who went 3-for-4 with two runs scored. "They almost looked at it as if it was a fluke. I actually think they were a little bit scared. They were kind of surprised at what we brought to their field. It was awesome."

Two games into the season, the Terps already had secured a marquee victory. For much of the third game, it looked like they would get another.

A Delp RBI groundout scored Rodriguez from third in the top of the first inning, and third baseman Jake Stinnett had an RBI double in the fourth. A two-run sixth inning highlighted by a Michael Montville solo shot put the Terps up 4-1 as starting pitcher Eric Potter held the Texas bats in check.

But once relief pitcher Chuck Ghysels took the mound in the seventh, the Terps' lead crumbled amid controversy.

"We were about to come out with a win," Rodriguez said. "A couple calls here or there go their way, and things change."

With one out in the bottom of the inning and a 2-2 count, Texas infielder Jordan Etier took a ball and started walking toward first base, even after the pitch appeared to have missed hitting him. Bakich quickly came out to argue, and after the umpires upheld the walk, the second-year coach continued to argue until he was ejected.

After Bakich's ejection, the Terps' hopes of sweeping the doubleheader and clinching at least a split of the four-game series faded quickly. Ghysels allowed five runs — four of them earned — and Korey Wacker allowed another to put the game out of reach.

"Unfortunately, things just kind of fell apart a little bit, and we had a little bit of a meltdown," Bakich said.

A 16-0 loss yesterday, one in which the Terps walked 11 Longhorns and hit four with pitches, only dampened a weekend that at one point seemed destined to emerge as a landmark series for the program.

"We saw glimpses of what our team can be when we're firing on all cylinders. You saw that in the second game," Rodriguez said. "I think there's some good and some bad to take away from it. But I think overall, as the team goes forward, it's good."

schneider@umdbk.com