Maryland senior Jake Stinnett was a cut above the rest on Saturday as the senior tossed the first no-hitter for the Terrapins since 2008 in a 4-0 win over UMass. Stinnett faced just two over the minimum while striking out nine batters. Coming off a week in which he was named the ACC Pitcher of the Week, he retired the final 11 batters of the game in dominating fashion. Maryland also won game two of the doubleheader 10-1.
UCLA winning a low scoring ballgame against a big time team – feels like we’ve been here before. Countless fans on both sides probably had flashbacks to Omaha 2013 as UCLA defeated NC State 2-0 behind the arm of Grant Watson. The lefty threw eight shutout innings in a rematch from Omaha last June as the Bruins got the better of the Wolfpack again. The only runs in the contest came on a Tyler Chatterton single with the bases loaded in the second inning as Watson controlled the NC State offense all night long. Closer David Berg picked up the save with a scoreless ninth to secure the win.
Fresno State came up with a brilliant performance on the mound in game one and used a nice comeback in game two to complete a doubleheader sweep of Texas A&M on Saturday. The Bulldogs got things started on the right foot early with Jordan Brink improving his record to 2-0 with a dominating seven innings of one hit baseball. Brink struck out five Aggies to go with three walks as Fresno won game one 5-0. Game two was a tight one, as the Bulldogs used a five-run sixth inning to rally back and sweep the doubleheader in impressive fashion 6-5. Fresno goes for the sweep on Sunday afternoon.
South Alabama also had a nice doubleheader sweep of their own in Fayetteville as they handed Arkansas their first two losses of the season, 2-1 and 5-3. The Jaguars had scuffled in the early weeks of the season with just a 3-5 record coming into today but the two huge wins look to be a real shot in the arm for them with conference play just two weeks away. Locke St. John had a great day on the mound going a career high 8 1/3 innings allowing just one earned run and striking out three Razorbacks.
Sam Houston State continues to impress in the early part of the 2014 season and got another huge win today in the Houston College Classic. Fresh off a big win over TCU yesterday, the Bearkats defeated Texas Tech 10-6 and further strengthened their non-conference resume and ran their overall record to 10-1. SHSU will look to go 3-0 on the weekend as they face a very stout Texas team on Sunday.
