Of the five saves Terrapin closer Brett Cecil has blown this season, the one that sticks out most in his mind is the April 4 game in which he gave up three ninth inning runs to Towson, a game the Terps would eventually lose 7-6 in 13 innings.
When he entered yesterday’s rematch with Towson at Shipley Field with one out in the ninth trying to protect a 1-0 lead, he didn’t forget about that outing.
“I wanted to come out and shove it through the zone,” he said. “I was really mad out on the mound, so I guess that helped a little bit. I definitely had it in my mind when I went out there, and obviously it helped.”
The approach worked as he struck out the first batter he faced on four pitches and retired Gary Helmick on a ground out to deep short to finish off the 1-0 Terps win and earn his eighth save.
Pitching dominated the game, with the teams combining for only nine hits. Neither starting pitcher stayed around long enough to factor in the decision or allow any runs.
Control issues ended Terp starter Mike Sufczynski’s day in the fifth. After retiring the first batter on a groundout on the first pitch of the inning, he walked the next two hitters. Sufczynski, who walked five in the game, got Hans Falkenhan to foul out to left on a 3-2 pitch, but reliever Brad Taylor entered to get the final out of the inning.
Towson starter Zach Umberger, owner of a 6.95 ERA entering the game, matched his four scoreless innings from the teams’ earlier meeting. Nate Curd pitched the final four innings for the Tigers and took his fourth loss of the season.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Terps pushed across the game’s only run. Joe Palumbo led off with a bunt single and Steve Braun sacrificed him to second, giving the Terps their first runner in scoring position of the game. With two outs, Mike Murphy’s RBI single to center scored Palumbo.
“We executed,” coach Terry Rupp said. “We got the leadoff guy on, we bunted him over successfully and then we got a big two-out hit. Those are the things that we were doing early in the year, that we kind of got away from.”
For the next two innings, Taylor shut down the Tigers, striking out the side in the seventh and getting three quick outs in the eighth. He induced a pop out to himself on the first batter of the ninth to set the stage for Cecil. Taylor pitched a season-high 3.2 innings, allowing only two hits and striking out four to pick up his first win of the year.
Taylor said that while he was warming up, he didn’t feel he had his best stuff, but once he took the mound, that changed. Then when the Terps took the lead, he wasn’t about to let up.
“A big thing Coach [Jim] Farr talks about when you get the lead is that the position players work hard to get us the lead, and we gotta to shut the door for them. I just kind of turned it on, I guess,” he said.
The Terps (24-24) were happy to get the win and to avoid their first season sweep at the hands of their in-state rivals since 2001.
“Apparently, they were saying something like they were the better team in Maryland,” Taylor said. “We kind of took that to heart and used that as a little bit of motivation.”
Contact reporter Eric Detweiler at edetweilerdbk@gmail.com.
