A centrifugal pump including a pump chamber, a wear plate, and a rotatable impeller is disclosed. The wear plate has a suction inlet. The pump chamber includes a high pressure region around the impeller within the pump chamber. The impeller's front face has portion located adjacent the wear plate to form a recirculation zone in fluid communication with the high pressure region. Another portion of the impeller's front face forms a small running clearance between it and a portion of the wear plate. That running clearance is interposed between the recirculation zone and the suction inlet. The wear plate includes plural deflector vanes projecting into the recirculation zone. A portion of the front face of the impeller includes plural pump-out vanes in the recirculation zone. The deflector vanes cooperate with the pump-out vanes to expel abrasive particles and prevent them from collecting and eroding the running clearance.