Maryland's baseball team is apparently one of its best in some time. In fact, a first hand look convinces anyone that this is a very good team by almost any measure. There was hope that last year's edition might also be good enough to finish above .500 after they broke from the gate strong, beating UCLA in California in two out of three on opening weekend and entering the ACC season in the national top 25 for the first time in forever. But once the ACC season started things went downhill fast. The very first weekend series at Wake Forest ended in a three-game sweep for the Deacons. Maryland was competitive in the ACC, but competitive doesn't mean successful. Once again the Terps finished below .500 overall and near the bottom of the powerful ACC. It is the numbing strength of the ACC that threatens to take a toll on a good team such as Maryland. Check the current records on the eve of the ACC regular season openers. Three teams are undefeated: Virginia (12-0), Florida State (10-0) and defending National Champion North Carolina (10-0), Maryland has won nine straight games, but their 9-3 record isn't even close to the best in the conference. Also with "better than Maryland" records are Georgia Tech (11-1), North Carolina State (10-1), Virginia Tech (11-2) and Miami (10-2). Six of those teams are ranked in the current Top 25, including Number One North Carolina. Virginia Tech, despite its record, isn't ranked, but would be No. 27 were the poll extended. Maryland, which didn't receive a single vote, swept a good Princeton team over the weekend, and did so with ease, Yet only a real optimist would predict Maryland as ACC champion. Maryland last won the conference baseball title in 1971.
Maryland has always been at a competitive disadvantage in what is, for the most part, a geographically southern conference. While schools such as Florida State, Miami, Georgia Tech, Clemson and even the Carolina Schools have the warm southern sun all winter long, Maryland and Boston College do not. The best baseball players see that as an incredible drawing card when choosing a school to attend. After last season's disappointment, new Athletic Director Kevin Anderson literally cleaned house. For 2013, the Terps have a new coach and an entirely new coaching staff. John Szefc became only the seventh head coach in the 120-year history of Maryland baseball. He spent the last two seasons as Assistant Head Coach at Kansas State after many very successful years as head coach at Marist. Known as a recruiter and a winner, he knows it will be a battle uphill and against the history of the conference as he takes over in College Park. If his first class of freshmen are any indication, he might be up to the task. This year's Terps are full of freshmen who have moved into the starting lineup. They ihclude Lamont Wade from St. Paul in Baltimore, who has started every game at first base and pitched in two games, Jose Cuas, another freshman who has started at shortstop and second base, and starting pitchers Alex Fernandez and Kevin Mooney. Another freshman, Kevin Martir, is catching behind Senior Jack Cleary, but has already made several starts.
Already in the third weekend of the regular season, Maryland hosted Princeton in a four-game set over this past weekend. Friday was cold enough, but Saturday's twin bill was played in a strong northwest wind that carried snow flakes on and off over both games. The couple of hundred fans in attendance were covered in blankets and the kind of outerwear one sees at late season football games in places like Green Bay.
Maryland entered the series on a five-game winning streak. After losing all three games on opening weekend at then No. 10 but now No. 3 LSU, the Terps had rebounded to sweep four from Oakland University and take a single game at James Madison. And, in truth, the opening losses had plenty of good news for Maryland. Number one starting pitcher Jimmy Reed was the hard luck loser on opening night when LSU won, 1-0. And Brady Kirkpatrick pitched well on Saturday when LSU scored late to win, 5-1. The Terps out-hit the Tigers, 9-6 but couldn't string the hits together. LSU was scoreless until the seventh inning in a game watched by over 7,000 fans. Against the Princeton Tigers, who finished second in the Ivy League last season, Maryland opened the weekend set with a 6-0 win on Friday evening. Jimmy Reed started and picked up the win, improving to 2-1. He pitched six scoreless innings while striking out ten Tigers, who were playing their opening game of the season. Jordan Hagel homered for Maryland.
On Saturday, Brady Kirkpatrick gave the Terps another great start, giving up only two hits over seven strong innings. He needed but 85 pitches to get through the seven, and was aided by sensational control. Kirkpatrick walked only one Princeton hitter. He also improved to 2-1. But it wasn't like the Maryland offense needed such sharp pitching on this bitterly cold early March day. The Terps erupted for eight runs in the first inning, then added five more over the next two frames en route to the 16-3 rout. Clean-up hitter Kyle Convissar went five for six and drove in five runs to lead Maryland.
The second game, which started at around 4 pm on this cloudy, windy, cold and snowy day, was actually a far better game. Maryland pushed across two runs in the third and again in the fourth innings to take a 4-0 lead, only to see the Tigers finally break through in the seventh to cut the Maryland lead in half. Freshman Kevin Mooney started for Maryland and, while giving up seven hits, kept Princeton at bay over six shutout innings. What did not bode well for Maryland, however, is that Princeton was outhitting the Terps, and even in defeat the Tigers had ten hits to Maryland's eight. The situation changed in the seventh when Mooney left. But with the Tigers breathing down Maryland's neck in the late innings, the Terps struck back and ended the suspense. In the bottom of the seventh, Maryland scored five times en route to a 9-2 win. Blake Schmitt and Charlie White each drove in two runs in the seventh.
On Sunday, Princeton finally took its first lead of the series in the the fifth inning when it scored three times to erase Maryland's 3-1 lead. But it didn't last. The Terps got a two-run single from Convissar and a base-clearing three-run double from Michael Montville in the bottom of the fifth for six runs and went on to a 9-4 win. Bobby Ruse threw two and one third innings of one-hit relief for Maryland, earning his team-high third win against no defeats. Left Fielder Montville led the Maryland offense with five runs batted in.
Maryland has now won nine straight games. Their game at Liberty, scheduled for Wednesday, has already been postponed until May because of a strong winter storm coming up the Atlantic Coast. Now, they will try to extend the winning streak when they start a three-game weekend series in Charlottesville against the Virginia Cavaliers, ranked number 19 in this week's coach's poll. It starts the 2013 ACC season.
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