Wow.

I know it came against a weaker nonconference opponent. I know Delaware’s best hitter- Alex Buchholz- didn’t play until a pinch-hit appearance in the ninth inning. I know the Terps baseball team would rather be playing in Jacksonville for the ACC Championship in two weeks, but a no-hitter in the last game of the season has got to leave the players and coaches with positive feelings towards next year.

More on Swinson’s performance in the Thursday edition of The Diamondback.

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Today’s baseball game vs. North Carolina State is the last home game of the Terps season and Senior Day.

 It’s been a long, sometimes grueling, year for the Terps. They won’t make the ACC tournament as they envisioned when the season started in February. But by the numbers, this team is among the best in program history.

 That’s largely thanks to a veteran squad, including these eight seniors who are about to be honored in a pre-game ceremony.

 Joe Palumbo:  crafty switch-handed hitter who could play a multitude of positions, played shortstop most of the year and did a solid job there, came from a family full of collegiate baseball players so you could tell from day one he understood the game

 Steve Braun: excellent second-baseman, and for most of the season a reliable lead-off man for the Terps offense, had his year ended a week early because of a shoulder injury but his influence will be missed next year

 Nick Jowers: had an excellent year at the plate, but if you ask any Terps player what they’ll remember about Jowers it’s his defensive skills, had great natural instincts for a centerfielder and it showed throughout the year, made a couple of great catches and always made the right jump on flyballs

 Mike Sufczynski: pitcher who was used in some starting situations this year and who did a good job in those starts, also came in out of the bullpen in a game against Virginia Tech this year and shut down the Hokies when the rest of the Terps couldn’t

 Kevin Biringer: saved his best for last with his win against N.C. State yesterday, pitched his career high in innings with 8 innings of 2 run ball, emerged in the second half of the year as a solid weekend starter for coach Terry Rupp and the Terps

 Brad Taylor: side-arm reliever and leader of a bullpen stocked with freshman and sophomore arms, led the team in ERA during his junior season and registered a team-high 5 saves this year

 Brett Tidball: fits the definition of a “crafty-lefty”, started four games for the Terps this year going 2-1, came out of the bullpen and also started midweek games, in the top ten in school history in appearances, pitched seven shut-out innings of relief to defeat No. 3 North Carolina in 2006

 Chad Durakis: reliable catcher, good gap to gap hitter and a team leader, only one hit shy of moving into fifth place in school history and one double shy of third place in school history, and of course he already holds the hit by pitch record

 akrautdbk@gmail.com

The Terrapin softball team started off their play in the ACC Tournament with 7-4 loss at the hands of Virginia Tech earlier today.

Hokies ace Angela Tincher struck out 12 Terps in a complete game effort. Only two of the Terps four runs were earned.

Playing in a steady drizzle, the Terps jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning after senior outfielder Jenny Belak scored on a fielding error, and senior catch Brittany Bessho hit her seventh home run of the season, a two-run blast over the centerfield fence.

But Tincher clamped down on the Terps the rest of the way, allowing only three hits after the first inning.

The Hokie offense backed its pitcher up, scoring runs consistently throughout the game. Virginia Tech took a 7-3 lead in the fifth inning off a sacrifice fly by designated player Jessica Everhart.

The Terps would tack on one more run in the seventh inning, but with runners on first and third, Tincher struck out junior second basemen Breanna Shaw to end the game and seal up the victory.

The Terps will take on Boston College, who earlier lost to Florida State on a ninth-inning walk-off grand slam, tonight at 8 p.m. The Terps must win in order to stay alive in the double-elimination tournament. With a win, the Terps will play again at 8 p.m., tomorrow.

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Believe it. Even with a series this weekend against No. 21 North Carolina State, tonight’s game against in-state rival Towson is apparently very important to coach Terry Rupp and the Terps.

How do we know that? Because Rupp decided to start staff-ace Scott Swinson, who has been pitching in Friday night ACC games against the other team’s ace pitcher all season long.

Rupp’s official reasoning for starting Swinson against a non-conference team like Towson midweek was “his turn is up.” Hard for me to believe that’s the real reason though.

I think the real reason is that Rupp really wants to win this game, maybe more than he wants to win Friday’s game against the Wolfpack, and who can blame him:

- The Terps are unlikely to make the ACC tournament, even with wins over N.C. State this weekend

- The Terps don’t want to lose their third and final game of the year to Towson

- Rupp mentioned on Monday how he’s been hearing a lot of his players, especially seniors, talk about how the Terps can’t lose to Towson for a third time. A lot of the Terps players have played with and against Towson players throughout high school and various summer leagues. There are bragging rights at stake.

So while tonight’s game might seem like just another nonconference tune-up for weekend ACC play, it actually means much more.

Rupp validated that by throwing his ace out there tonight. We’ll see how it works out.

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I know, I know. It’s one of the most annoying sports clichés ever, but with six games left- including tonight’s against Maryland- Eastern Shore- for the Terps baseball team pride is the only thing left to play for.

This is the team’s first game after getting swept at Boston College, another disappointing ACC series in a season full of them. Barring a miracle, the Terps aren’t going to make it to the ACC tournament, and there were times this year when the pressure to make it there hurt them.

But now it’s not about pressure. It’s just about that “pride” thing again among a few other goals:

- With 26 wins right now the Terps can be only the second team in program history to win 30 games. The first and only time that happened was in 2002, when the team won 34 games.

- With three more wins- including the one they will get tonight (yeah so what, I’m guaranteeing a Terps win tonight) – they will have their first winning record since 2002

– With a single win against No.21 N.C. State over the weekend the Terps will have won more than 8 ACC games for the first time since 1980

Basically, there are still some things the Terps can do this season to make it a productive one. So maybe the playing for pride thing is real- we’ll see starting tonight.

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It’s Senior Day at Byrd Stadium for the Terp men’s lacrosse team.

They just honored the nine seniors before the game against Yale by giving them their framed jerseys. High up in Tyser Tower at Byrd Stadium it was hard to tell exactly what the mood was like during the ceremony. I’m gonna guess happy.

Actually, I’ll just let coach Dave Cottle speak to the importance of this game, which he addressed in a phone interview on Thursday.

“I think senior day is one of the most important days of the year for us. It’s a chance to honor the kids who have made those sacrifices. I know I get very emotional on senior day because it’s amazing how fast it seems to have gone by. When you have senior day you know you’re at the end of the regular season.”

 But it will be interesting to see how the Terps react in their final regular season game in their final opportunity to impress the NCAA selection committee before the field is set Sunday. An 8 to 10 goal win might be just what this team needs having lost three of its last four.

A last note is you have to hand it to the folks who put on Art Attack last night. The concert didn’t wrap up until close to 11, but everything was apparently cleared out quickly before today’s 1 p.m. game. The lone remnant of Art Attack is a pretty cool waffle pattern visible from my position left by the temporary flooring that was brought in for the event.

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