BLACKSBURG, Va. - The University of Maryland baseball team faces a pivotal ACC road series at Virginia Tech this weekend as the Terps look to gain ground in the Atlantic Division and put themselves in position for a run to the ACC Tournament.

The series begins at 3 p.m. Friday afternoon with Terps ace Scott Swinson (Ellicott City, Md./George Washington) taking the hill against Rhett Ballard of the Hokies (10-18, 0-12 ACC). Friday's game was originally scheduled for a 5:30 p.m. start, but a chance of thunderstorms throughout the evening forced the time change.

Jensen Pupa (Germantown, Md./Northwest) will pitch for Maryland (16-13, 3-9 ACC) at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and Kevin Biringer (Albuquerque, N.M./Bradley University is scheduled to pitch the 1 p.m. finale Sunday.

The series could be crucial for the Terps as they sit two games behind Wake Forest for the key fourth spot in the Atlantic Division. NC State is tied with Wake for third and the Demon Deacons and Wolfpack play one another this weekend. If Maryland can win the series with Tech, it can gain ground in the division race regardless of who wins the Wake-State series.

The Hokies have yet to win a game in ACC play and are only 10-18 overall entering the series. Tech is hitting .301 as a team, but pitching has been an issue as the staff has compiled a 6.62 ERA thus far.

The Terps are 25-12-1 all-time against the Hokies and 3-1 since Tech joined the ACC in 2005, including an ACC Tournament win. The two teams did not face each other the last two years.

Friday and Saturday's games can be seen online via ACCSelect.com and all three games will be available for free online at WMUCSports.com

-TERPS-