Maryland baseball’s offensive explosion moves Terps closer to postseason – Todd Carton

The Maryland baseball team’s trip to Columbus on May’s second weekend was a bit like a visit you might make to the doctor when something feels amiss but you’re not quite certain of the prognosis or treatment. The three game series came with three options relative to the Terrapins’ NCAA fate:

Maryland sweeps three games: Just what the doctor ordered as close to a clean bill of NCAA health as possible.

Take two wins: And call me after you play Liberty and again after the Northwestern series.

One win or less: I’m sorry Mr. Testudo. We’ve put your season on life support.

The Terps got the least that they needed by winning the opener before dropping the middle game and bouncing back to take the rubber match. What Terps fans did see was a lineup that put on an impressive and explosive display from top to bottom. After sleepwalking through a three game home set when they scored a total of nine runs while the Indiana Hoosiers swept them, Maryland scored 39, count ’em 39 runs in three games against a better than average Ohio State pitching staff.

This is how Maryland’s starting lineup performed collectively:

For those who don’t do quick mental math, that’s a .408 team batting average. Optimistically, the Terps did all that offensive damage with Kevin Martir, their leading hitter coming into the series, hitting just .250 for the weekend. And their bats showed plenty of pop. Nearly a third (16 of 51) of their hits went for extra bases. Maryland smacked eight doubles, two triples and six home runs.

The series win improved Maryland’s record to 35-17 on the season and 13-8 in the Big Ten. They are currently tied for third with Ohio State with one series remaining before the B1G Tournament. The two road wins also bumped the Terrapins’ RPI from 51st to 38th certainly strengthening their case for an NCAA bid.

No bed rest allowed

That’s the good news but the doctor is still urging caution both on the field and off it. On the field, the Terps committed six errors over the three games and the Buckeyes capitalized by scoring 5 unearned runs. Perhaps more troubling is that Maryland pitchers not named Mike Shawaryn gave up 29 hits, with OSU batting .435, and 24 runs – 20 of which were earned. A team with postseason aspirations can’t give up extra outs. Quality opponents will extract a price in the form of runs.

The loss of Tayler Stiles, who was emerging as a clear and solid number two started has certainly strained the Terps’ pitching staff. But someone else needs to step up. Maryland can’t expect to score double digit runs game in and game out. Over a stretch of 11 games, beginning with a 1-0 extra inning loss to Cal State Fullerton, the Terps scored just 48 runs and, if you exclude the anomalous (for that period) 12 runs in the first game at Purdue, just 36 over 10 of those contests. Their record over that span was an unimpressive 5-6.

Off the field, Maryland needs to deal with a committee and possibly the analysis of a heartless computer. Four games remain on Maryland’s regular season schedule beginning Tuesday when the Terps host number 42 RPI Liberty at 3:00 p.m. A win over the Flames would improve their record to 12-6 over top 50 RPI teams and would serve to solidify their postseason resume. However, the Terps will finish their season with a three game set at number 158 Northwestern. Even a road sweep is likely to depress their RPI a bit and a loss could be quite damaging to those postseason aspirations.

After Indiana swept Maryland, I thought the Terrapins needed to close the season by winning at least six of their final seven games to come as close as possible to securing an NCAA Tournament spot before the B1G Tournament. Although my friend Andrew Kramer, who does an outstanding job covering Terps baseball for Testudo Times and who follows college baseball more closely than I by orders of magnitude, believes that Maryland will be “golden” with a win over Liberty, I remain a bit skeptical. I will feel much more comfortable if the Terrapins turn this last win into a streak of five or more.

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