Maryland baseball: No. 22 Terps beat Cal State Fullerton 2-1

The stadium was rocking tonight. A DJ pinning tunes, Maryland cheerleaders athe game, and plenty of sunshine. Best of all, the crowd was a season-high 1,370.

Tonight's starters were RHP Thomas Eshelman (3-4, 2.34 era) vs. Maryland's Mike Shawaryn (8-0, 1.89 era).

Terps get two gift runs

In the bottom of the second, the Terps scored without the benefit of a hit.  Leadoff batter Jose Cuas was HBP. Anthony Papio hit a grounder to the second baseman, whose throw went into left field, putting runners on second and third. Cuas came home on a grounder to first from Jamal Wade, with Papio taking third. Kengo Kawahara's hard grounder to third allowed Papio to score the second Terrapin run of the inning.

Both pitchers impressive

Shawaryn was on target. Through four innings, he had struck out six Titans. He had thrown just 51 pitches, 41 of which were for strikes. But Eshelman was also dealing, allowing only two singles to Terrapin batters. He had the Terps constantly pounding balls into the turf for groundouts.

Scott Hurst led off the Titan fifth with a double off the right field wall. A.J. Kennedy bunted Hurst over to third. However, Shawaryn struck out the next two hitters to preserve the 2-0 lead.

Dustin Morris blooped a double down the right field line to start the sixth inning, and then went to third on a bunt. But just like last inning, the Titan threat was silenced as Shawaryn struck out the next two batters.

In the bottom of the inning, Brandon Lowe drew a leadoff walk. When Kevin Smith tried to bunt, the pitch came inside and hit him. Kevin Martir sacrificed the runners over to second and third. Eshelman worked out of the jam by striking out Cuas and getting Papio to ground out to first.

In the bottom of the eighth, Zach Jancarski ht a hard grounder through the box for what would have been an infield hit, but the wild throw allowed him to take second. It was Jancarski's first career base hit. After Lowe lined out, Kevin Smith hit a slow roller that the pitcher mishandled. Runners were on first and second with one out. Martir hit into a force out at second. The Terps were stymied as Cuas popped out to second.

Maryland hangs on

Kevin Mooney came in to pitch for the Terrapins. Josh Vargas led off the top of the ninth with a walk, meaning the tying run was at the plate. Josh Estil worked Mooney for a walk. That brought in Alex Robinson. Olmedo sacrificed both runners into scoring position. Jake Jeffries hit a ground out to pull the Titans within a single run. However Robinson fanned Scott Hurst to end the game.

Mike Shawaryn got the win to move to 9-0, setting a career high with 13 strike outs.With the victory, Shawaryn ties John Rayne for Terrapin career victories at 20. Alex Robinson got his third save of the year. Overall, the Terps are 26-10 on the year.