Maryland baseball takes down James Madison, 2-1, in 12 innings

Randy Bednar’s RBI single in the 12th inning was the difference in Maryland’s 2-1 extra-inning win over James Madison on Tuesday night.

The Terps had plenty of chances on offense to storm ahead of the Dukes, including two bases loaded threats in the first and sixth, but were held scoreless until the ninth inning. Despite Maryland stranding 16 runners on base for the game, the Terps came out victorious.

Coming into the game, Maryland was 2-6 in midweek games. However, starting pitcher Mark DiLuia kept the Terps in this game, throwing a career-high seven innings, giving up just one earned run.

In the Maryland first, A.J. Lee reached on a fielding error and Nick Dunn walked. They executed the double steal to put two men in scoring position for the Terps with no outs. Marty Costes and Kevin Biondic followed, both striking out. Taylor Wright walked to load the bases, but Zach Jancarski would strand all three runners by grounding out to second base.

The Dukes took their long-standing 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Adam Sisk started out the frame with a double. He advanced to third on a flyout and scored on an RBI groundout from Michael Morgan.

In the second, the Terps stranded another two in scoring position. Randy Bednar singled to start the inning, stealing second and advancing to third on a wild pitch. Lee walked and stole second with two outs, another big chance for the Terps. However, Nick Dunn flied out to left field, stranding both.

James Madison starter Nick Robertson was pulled after two innings, and Matt Marsili followed with three scoreless frames of his own.

Maryland didn’t threaten again until the sixth inning. Biondic led off with a single. Taylor Wright was hit by a pitch the next at-bat, putting two on with no outs. Jancarski and Bednar followed, both hitting fly outs to put two down in the inning. Brad Barnett followed with a walk, but all three were stranded after Justin Vought flied out to the center fielder.

Despite six walks from James Madison pitching through eight innings, the Terps were unable to use any of those towards their advantage.

That was until the ninth inning, when the Terps tied up the game, and could’ve taken the lead, but a freak turn of events kept the score even at 1-1. Barnett led off with an infield single, then Vought was hit by a pitch. Richie Schiekofer replaced Barnett and Chris Alleyne replaced Vought on the bases. Lee came up in the clutch with a double down the left field line. Schiekofer scored, but rounding third, Alleyne fell and was tagged out on the relay throw home, unable to get up and score in time. Dunn followed with a walk, and Biondic was walked two batters later, loading the bases for the third time in the game. Again, though, all runners were stranded as Wright struck out looking.

It took until the 12th inning for either team to score, and it was Maryland who took the lead. The first four batters of the inning got on. Biondic walked, Wright was hit by his second pitch of the game, Jancarski singled, and Bednar singled home Biondic to give Maryland the 2-1 lead. They would leave another two runners on base in the inning, squandering possible chances to extend the lead, but couldn’t come through.

Grant Burleson, John Murphy and Biondic each pitched 1.2 innings for the Terps in relief, with Biondic staying on to earn the save in the 12th. Maryland moved to 16-17 with the win and will visit Michigan for a three-game series this weekend.