BALTIMORE, Maryland May 9, 2014 - This is crunch time for Maryland. The 30-19 Terps have been playing baseball for real since the middle of February, some 49 games to be exact. They have played in freezing cold, rain and all manner of inclement weather. They have won more ACC Conference games - 12 - than any Maryland Team since 1970. That, folks, is a span of 44 years (Some of you may recall that Maryland won the ACC title in three consecutive years: 1969, 1970, 1971). But the question of whether this is really a breakthrough season for the Terps now hangs very much in the balance. The series this weekend in Pittsburgh - the last regular season ACC series the school will ever play - will likely decide whether they will be one of the ten teams to get a berth in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. And any chance they have of getting a berth in the NCAA Tournament, any chance whatsoever, turns on whether the Terps can at least qualify for their conference tournament.
The sad truth is that Maryland has been overlooked and ignored by the supposed big dogs in college baseball all season long. The two so-called major polls - the baseball writer's poll relied on by the NCAA, and the Baseball America Poll, have ignored Maryland and gone to some really really great lengths to do it. After sweeping North Carolina State in late March, the Terps had a) a better conference record than the Wolfpack; b) a better overall record than the Wolfpack; and c) a significantly tougher schedule than did the Wolfpack. Yet the Wolfpack continued to be highly ranked by both polls and Maryland did not get even one single vote in either. It was exactly like the mainstream media covering an obama scandal: they report nothing, they recognize nothing, and they acknowledge nothing because, let's be frank, they know absolutely nothing. It is apparent that the Terps, to gain any recognition for what they have accomplished, will have to club the ACC on the head to get it. By this, I mean that for Maryland to get what they want and deserve will have to battle their way into the ACC Tournament, and then go down to North Carolina - where else would the ACC hold its conference tournament? - and take some prisoners. To get the big prize, an NCAA berth, the Terps will need to do the following:
1. Take two out of three from Pitt this weekend. If Maryland can win two out of three, they will finish 14-15 in the conference for a winning percentage of .483. Winning all three - and to be sure, Maryland can accomplish this even though for the ACC season Maryland is only .004 ahead of the Panthers - would allow the Terps to finish over .500 for the conference season and would actually clinch an ACC tournament berth. But if the Terps can just win 2 out of 3, than North Carolina State, which is currently the odd team out, would have to win all six of its remaining conference games to finish ahead of Maryland. And even if State can do that and finish 15-15, ahead of Maryland at 14-15, Maryland likely would sneak into the field because they would be ahead of Pitt, and Pitt would be odd team out. Try it again: if State wins its last six conference games and finishes 15-15, and Maryland takes two out of three this weekend from the Panthers, Pitt would have to sweep Notre Dame in South Bend to avoid being the odd team out. If they lose two out of three to the Terps, but sweep the Irish, they would finish tied with State at 15-15. If Pitt loses even one game in South Bend they would finish 14-16, behind Maryland's 14-15. Got it? But like I say, all of this is contingent on the Terps winning two out of three this weekend. As I post this article at mid-day Friday, May 9, Maryland is 12-14 (.462) in the conference with the three conference games remaining at Pitt. Maryland is in 9th place in won-loss percentage in the conference, but only the top three teams are significantly better. Everybody else is within two games of .500 in ACC Conference games except for the bottom three (Notre Dame, Boston College and Virginia Tech) and Duke and N.C. State. If you have been reading this blog you know that I consider Duke a .500 team, also, because all of their remaining six ACC conference games are with Miami and Florida State, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they lose all six and finish at .500. The Wolfpack, on the otherhand, are in 11th place at 9-15. They have six games left; three at home against Wake Forest this weekend and three on the road to finish the season next weekend against Virginia Tech. The Panthers sit currently in tenth place at 11-13 (.458). They, like State, have six left; three with the Terps this weekend and three at Notre Dame next weekend. Even though both Pitt and State have three left with one of the so-called bottom three, both of those series will be on the home field of the bottom three team. Both Virginia Tech and Notre Dame should be able to win at least one of the games on their home fields, what with senior days and what not. Maryland can tell both North Carolina State and Pitt how tough those bottom three are when they are at home. The bane of the Maryland season was getting swept at Boston College at the end of April and losing two out of three at Virginia Tech a few weeks before that. If the Terps had gone 3-3 over those six games instead of 1-5 they would have nothing to worry about going into this final series at Pitt.
2. Beat West Virginia in College Park on Tuesday. A vigorous finish has always been a big plus for teams on the proverbial bubble in the NCAA when it comes to getting an at-large bid to a national tournament. With West Virginia, though, it is even more important than that. The Mountaineers are one of the teams that Maryland will be competing with for an at-large bid. And West Virginia completely humiliated Maryland just 17 days ago in Morgantown, winning by the little league score of 14-2. Not only will Maryland need to avenge that loss when they tangle with the Mountaineers, they will need to do it in their final regular season game. If they can rebound from the first game with West Virginia and just win, it will tell the NCAA big dogs on the selection committee that Maryland is on the go and surging coming down the wire. A win over West Virginia will build momentum for Maryland as they - hopefully - prepare for ACC Tournament play beginning one week later. If Maryland can take two out of three against Pitt and beat West Virginia, they will finish the regular season with an overall record of 33-20, and they will have accomplished this playing about as tough a schedule as does any team in the country. Who else plays in so tough a conference as does Maryland while at the same time playing a non-conference slate that includes foes like Florida (3 games), Bryant (3 games), Virginia Commonwealth (2 games), Liberty (1 game) and Towson (1 game)? I'll bet not even John Szefc, the Terp Coach, knew how good Bryant would be when Maryland swept them in a weekend series back in February in frigid College Park. I'll even bet Szefc was surprised how good VCU would end up being (32-13 going into this week's game against Maryland). If the Terps can beat a very good team like West Virginia to end the regular season, thereby blunting the memory of one of the worst losses of the season, they will add another argument for themselves when it comes time for the selection committe to pick the 34 at large teams for the national championship tournament; i.e., the College World Series. Believe me when I say that the Terrapins will need every argument they can muster to use on people with a history of totally ignoring them even when they are good, like this year.
3. Do well in the ACC Tournament. I don't think Maryland has a good chance of winning the Tournament. Only a fool would say they do when they enter the final ten days of the regular season in what is equivalent to ninth place in their conference and struggling just to get into the conference tournament that takes 10 of the 14 ACC schools. But Maryland has unquestionably been a player this season in the conference, a big change from the last 44 years. 44 years? 44 years! The team web page revealed today that the 12 conference wins Maryland has this season are the most they have had since 1970. Maryland has won the ACC regular season three times. Those years were 1969, 1970 and 1971. There was no conference tournament then. They haven't been above .500 in ACC play since then. But this year they beat every single one of the national powers they have played at least once. They have a win over Florida, a win over Florida State, a win over North Carolina, a win over Clemson, three wins over North Carolina State, and two wins over Georgia Tech. Everyone of those teams either are or were ranked this season. Maryland has two extremely good starting pitchers: Senior Jake Stinnett, who leads the ACC in strikeouts, and Freshman Mike Shawaryn, who has as many victories - eight - as any pitcher in School History. They have a bullpen that, honestly, swings from superb to not all that great, but have it in them to be a factor in the ACC tournament. Szefc has done a wonderful job getting Ben Brewster and Kevin Mooney to peak going into the ACC and this weekend's series with Pitt. Maryland needs all four of their big arms - Stinnett, Shawaryn, Brewster and Mooney - to come up big this weekend and in the ACC Tournament, and they probably will need to get something out of Jake Drossner, the number three starter, as well. If they get that, Maryland has a chance to win four, five, even six games in the conference tournament. And if they can win say, five games at the ACC Tournament, they have a chance to go into NCAA Selection Day with an overall record of 38-21, and that better get them into the NCAA.
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