Boston College Athletics
Boston College
Maryland
Leonard Pitches Baseball To 4-1 Win At Maryland
March 20, 2011 | Baseball
March 20, 2011
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Senior John Leonard allowed an unearned run through 8.0 innings of work to lead the Boston College baseball team to a 4-1 win against Maryland in the series finale Sunday at Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium.
Coming off the heels of last week's performance when he allowed one hit through the first 6.0 innings at No. 4 Florida State, Leonard began his outing today by throwing 5.1 no hit innings. He faced three batters over the minimum while he was on the mound and only three Terrapins reached second. He finished the day by giving up three hits and walking two while striking out five.
Senior Garret Smith went 2-for-4 at the plate with a double and two runs. Freshman Tom Bourdon and junior Andrew Lawrence contributed with RBIs. Smith also came on in the ninth to shut the door.
BC got on the board with a pair of runs in the fifth. Senior Mike Sudol led off and was hit by a pitch then classmate Matt Hamlet walked to put the first two batters on base. Bourdon sacrificed them into scoring position and a wild pitch plated Sudol for the game's first run. Junior Brad Zapenas drew another free pass to put runners on the corners and Lawrence brought Hamlet home with a sac fly.
The Eagles put up another run in the top of the seventh. Smith hit a leadoff single for BC's first hit of the game and Sudol followed suit with one of his own to put runners on first and second. Bourdon drove in the run with an RBI single up the middle.
Maryland had a good chance to score in the bottom half of the seventh. Gary Schneider was hit by a pitch to start the inning and moved to second when he tagged on a long out to center that Bourdon had to leap on the wall to get. He stole third on ball four to put runners on the corners but then Leonard picked off Tim Kiene at first for the second out of the inning. Alfredo Rodriguez lined out to third to end the threat.
BC added some insurance in the top of the ninth with a run. Smith led off with a double to the gap in right and moved over 90 feet on a fly out to right. A balk allowed him to come home to extend the lead to 4-0.
The Terrapins scored an unearned run in the bottom half of the ninth. Ryan Holland led off with a single up the middle which ended Leonard's day. Smith came on and got Schneider looking for the first out, then an errant pickoff attempt moved Holland to second. Kiene scored him with a single to right.
Eric Potter also had a solid day on the mound for Maryland (10-10, 1-5 ACC) as he threw 6.0 no-hit innings. He allowed three runs on three hits but walked six.
The Eagles (8-9, 2-4) face Holy Cross Wednesday at 4 p.m. in Worcester.
