Diamondback Blogs

It’s a cool night here at Shipley Field as the Terrapin baseball team prepares for the opener of its two-game set against Delaware. While tonight’s game is obviously not as important as this weekend’s series at ACC foe Wake Forest, the Terps need to take care of out-of -conference midweek opponents.

After this series against the Blue Hens, the Terps will have played 14 games, amounting roughly to a quarter of their 2008 campaign. With two wins against Delaware 3-9 (0-3, CAA), the Terps can push their record to a respectable 7-7 heading into the meat of their ACC schedule.

Senior southpaw Brett Tidball will start the game tonight for the Terps, but expect coach Terry Rupp to try and piece together a staff start, as he often does in midweek games.

Also, watch for Delaware junior third baseman Alex Buchholz. It seems as if the Terps face a first or second team All-American every series and this one will be no different. Buchholz, a Millersville native, was named a Lousiville Slugger First-Team Preseason All-American after batting .387 with 63 RBI last season.

akrautdbk@gmail.com 

GREENSBORO, N.C.—We headed back to the Greensboro Coliseum around noon today with high expectations for semifinal Saturday.

The lunch buffet did not disappoint, offering salads, deli sandwiches, barbecued pot roast and some sort of marinated chicken. Add in the always-open complimentary snack cart—highlighted by dark chocolate Haagen Dazs Bars—and the beverage cooler, and the Coliseum wins far and away for media hospitality at arenas the Terps played in this season.

Even with the absurd $89 per day wireless internet access.

The first semifinal was pretty entertaining, with Virginia staying with North Carolina for about a half before the Tar Heels pulled away in the second half for an 80-65 win.

The Terps’ contingent of fans grew to encompass part of a fourth section today, and when the Terps appeared to watch some of the second half of the Cavaliers-Tar Heels game, they were given a standing ovation.

After the Terps and Duke took the court for warmups before the second semifinal, the reporter from the Duke student paper told me he was banking on a Terps’ win so he could go home—to Rockville, Md. of all places—for spring break.

(Another interesting note about the Duke Chronicle: They didn’t send a reporter here for their quarterfinal game last night because they assumed it would be a win, and it wasn’t worth the trip. Durham is about an hour away.)

The Terps were wearing their road black uniforms, an interesting choice for the higher seed. When asked, a team source said the Terps wore black “because they wanted to.”

The somewhat unexpected 74-63 loss soured the day for everybody, and both we and the Terps will be heading home a little early.

After opening up an early lead, the Terps just didn’t seem to have the intensity or the desire to win to keep up with the Blue Devils.

They’ll be back in action for the NCAA tournament two weeks from tomorrow, but almost definitely not as a No. 1 seed.

schimmeldbk@gmail.com

GREENSBORO, N.C.–Diamondback photographer Adam Fried and I finally made it to Greensboro for the ACC women’s basketball tournament. Actually we made it about seven hours ago, but thanks to the Greensboro Coliseum deciding to charge members of the media $89 per day to use its wireless internet access, I had to wait until now, about 11 p.m., to post this back at the hotel.

After taking about an hour this afternoon to gain access into the arena, we got to the floor in time for the last two minutes of top-seeded North Carolina’s 97-77 blowout win against Clemson.

Standing in the walkway as the Tar Heels and Tigers left the court, Adam and I momentarily discussed jumping Erlana Larkins or LaToya Pringle to possibly help the Terps later in the weekend, but ultimately decided against it.

After enjoying an impressive media buffet that included chicken parmesan, lasagna, two different salads and a dessert tray, it was time for the Terps’ quarterfinal matchup against Boston College.

While watching the Terps warm up from my seat on press row near the left corner of the court, I decided I could shoot about 23 percent from where I was sitting.

In the game, the Eagles made things at least slightly interesting toward the end, but the Terps led from start to finish and advanced to the semifinals with a workmanlike 93-81 win.

Senior forward Laura Harper led the Terps with 25 points, while ACC Player of the Year Crystal Langhorne had 24 points. The duo combined to shoot 19-for-21 from the floor.

Coach Brenda Frese was showing shades of her old self, pacing and occasionally stomping on the sideline like old times after spending most of the games during her pregnancy in a large chair on the bench.

The Terps have a strong contingent of fans down here, filling up most of three large sections behind the Terps’ bench. Most of the fans stayed long enough to join Florida State and lingering Tar Heels fans in the tomahawk chop during the nightcap between the Seminoles and Duke.

The Seminoles gave the Blue Devils a major scare, leading for a lot of the game, but the Blue Devils came back in the second half and pulled away late for an 81-67 win, setting up a semifinal matchup with the Terps tomorrow afternoon.

It’s the bottom of the second inning here at Shipley Field and the Terps are already up 4-0 on Coppin State. The Terps knew coming in that Coppin State wasn’t exactly going to present the level of competition they’ll face when they travel to Tallahassee this weekend to play Florida State. In fact, the Eagles have already dropped two fly balls and botched a double play, but the Terps seemed genuinely focused, even concerned when I spoke to them for the game preview yesterday.

As expected coach Terry Rupp has once again switched the defensive infield alignment, trying to curb a disturbing number of infield errors through the Terps first eight games. Junior-college transfer Jensen Pupa was moved to second, junior Mike Murphy back to his normal third and regular catcher Chad Durakis to first base. It’s safe to say we won’t know how Rupp’s change works out until after Florida State this weekend.

Rupp decided to tag-team the pitching effort today, senior Mike Sufczynski pitched the first but freshman Eric Potter came out for the second.

Coppin State’s troubles are well-known in baseball circles. They went 0-44 last season, including a 27-0 and a 12-0 loss to the Terps, and are on a similar pace this year with a record of 0-8. Barring a collapse of Terrence Oglesby proportions the Terps are going to cruise to their fifth win of the year today. As I typed this they scored another run to go up 5-0. Should be interesting to see how the team comes out against FSU Friday night.

RALEIGH, N.C.– Contrary to reports earlier in the week, Terrapin women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese made the trip down here for today’s game against N.C. State.

According to a team source, Frese did not travel with the team yesterday, but rather came down this morning and surprised the team in the locker room before warmups.

She hasn’t made an appearance on the floor yet, but should be coming out any minute now…