Last weekend the Terrapin baseball team faced the ACC’s top hitting team. This weekend, it has to deal with the conference’s top pitching team.
Beginning tonight, the Terps (14-17, 4-11 ACC) host No. 7-ranked North Carolina (24-5, 8-2) and its ACC-best 2.06 team earned run average in a three-game series at Shipley Field. The Tar Heels are second in the ACC and have two of the best pitchers in the country.
The Terps come into the series off a disappointing 9-7 defeat to UMBC Wednesday. They sit in ninth place, but only the top seven teams receive first-round byes in the conference tournament. With just 12 ACC games remaining and the pivotal seventh place in sight, the Terps are expected to play with a sense of urgency.
The Tar Heels have won nine of the last 10 meetings, including a 14-0 drubbing to knock the Terps out of last year’s ACC tournament. Combine that with Wednesday’s loss to a weaker UMBC team, and the Terps have extra motivation this weekend.
“As much as that hurt our record, I think that kind of fired us up,” senior pitcher Chris Clem. “A good team’s coming in this weekend, and we have to be focused and ready to go.”
Clem (1-4, 6.13 ERA) will start tonight for the Terps. Opposing him will be Andrew Miller, who comes in with a 6-0 record and a 1.25 ERA.
Junior Ben Pfinsgraff (4-1, 2.68) will take the mound for tomorrow’s game. He is coming off his most impressive win of the season, a 2-1 victory at then No. 1-Georgia Tech. He pitched 7.2 innings of five-hit ball. The stellar outing earned him ACC Pitcher of the Week.
“Our pitching staff’s going to have to keep us in the games,” Pfinsgraff said. “They got Bard and Miller, two of the best pitchers in the country, and they’ve been able to shut down almost any lineup. If our pitching staff can keep us in the game, I think our hitters will come through and we’ll be all right.”
