Wolfpack vs Terps – Weekend Baseball Preview

I spent too much time watching basketball tonight, so sorry in advance but this one’s probably gonna be a semi-halfassed effort from yours truly.  We’ll see how it goes.

The Pack welcomes the Maryland Terrapins (14-10, 3-6 ACC) to town this weekend for a three game conference slate at the Doak.  With Trea Turner’s bat back in the lineup, State really needs to get things moving in the right direction this weekend vs the Terps if at all possible.

Both teams have had similar seasons to date.  After getting swept by LSU in Baton Rouge to open their season, the Terps got things on track and had it rolling with a nine game winning streak  Then they hit conference play and have sputtered losing all three conference series they’ve played.  That being said, they haven’t been swept in conference and have managed to take one game each vs Wake, vs FSU and @UVa (which the Pack wasn’t able to do if you recall, and I’m sure you do).

The net result is that their conference record is an identical 3-6 to that of the Pack, which has them (and Wake too) tied with the Pack for third place in the Atlantic Division, four games back of 1st place FSU and two games back of 2nd place Clemson.

Incidentally, BC is already all but out of the race, 6.5 back and winless in conference…but God did smile down on them and allowed them to avoid an 11th straight defeat this past Sunday vs the heels when he rained ’em out.  Of course they got the 11th straight loss anyway, two days later vs Northeastern.  And a 12th the next day vs Bryant University.

Having won only three games all season, I fully expect even Duke to pound the crap out of BC this weekend.

But I digress…

This is about Maryland.  So let’s see about them, shall we? (BC really sucks)

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Maryland Terrapins

14-10 (3-6 ACC, t3rd ACC Atlantic)
2012: 32-24 (10-20 ACC, 5th ACC Atlantic)

 

At The Plate

The Terps are solid at the plate, batting .293 as a team for the season thus far (as compared to .282 for the Pack) and scoring 6.25 runs per game (6.88 for the Pack).  They don’t generally hit for power much however (8 HRs all season) but they do like to run and play “small ball”.  Once they get on base, they’re very willing and able to cause problems for opposing pitchers, having stolen 60 bases on the year on 74 attempts.

Charlie White (#4, Soph, CF) is their big biggest basestealing threat (22/26) and is also solid at the plate at .333.  He’s also got 6 doubles on the year and leads the team in runs scored (22).

Kyle Convissar (#22, Jr, 2B) is their RBI leader (25) and he also leads the team in BA (.352) and scored 18 times.  He too has 6 doubles on the year, and has stolen 5 bags in 8 tries, but he is susceptible to the strikeout (17).

Their other .300+ guys are Jordan Hagel (#34, Sr, CF/RF) – (.344, 1 HR, 11 RBI, 16 rs, 9/9 sb); and Kevin Martir (#32, Frosh, C) – (.338, 9 RBI, 7 rs).  Martir is their only everyday guy to not have attempted to swipe a base all year.

LaMonte Wade (#6, Frosh, LF) also deserves a mention here.   He’s batting .272 currently with no HRs, but has still managed to knock in 17 runs, score 19 times and steal 8 bases in 9 attempts.  He draws a LOT of walks (20), but also strikes out more than average (17).  No word on whether his nickname is “Big Dummy” (That’s a “Sanford and Son” reference btw…I’m sure Mr. Wade is a very intelligent human being and I am not attempting to besmirch him).

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In The Field

Maryland’s pitching staff is very solid, having posted a staff ERA of 3.64 to date in 2013 (3.79 for the Pack) and having only given up an average of 4.38 runs per game (4.73 for the Pack).  The guys that Wolfpack hitters will likely be facing this weekend are:

Jimmy Reed (#11, Sr, LHP) – 4-1, 1.96 ERA, 0 HRs, 31 Ks, 13 BBs.

Brady Kirkpatrick (#3, Jr, RHP) – 2-3, 3.16 ERA, 2 HRs, 28 Ks, 19 BBs.

Jake Stinnett (#7, Jr, RHP) – 1-3, 8.10 ERA, 0 HRs, 11 Ks, 11 BBs

(UMd has not officially listed their starter for Sunday, but Stinnett is my best guess)

The Terps bullpen is solid as well, and they are very good defensively with the possible exception of 3rd baseman KJ Hockaday (#8, Soph, 3B) with 7 errors in 62 chances, for a .887 fldpct.

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Links:

Rodon and Reed Duel Friday, Open Maryland Series (GoPack.com)

Maryland Baseball (UMTerps.com)

Weekend Notes

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Games Schedule – Probable Starters

• 3/29 Friday 6:30pm – Jimmy Reed vs Carlos Rodon
• 3/30 Saturday 6:30pm – Brady Kirkpatrick vs Ethan Ogburn
• 3/31 Sunday 1pm – Jake Stinnett vs Brad Stone

***All three games vs the Terps are scheduled to be streamed live via ESPN3***

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ACC Standings

(As Of March 28)
ATLANTIC DIVISION
School	Conference	Pct.	Overall	Pct.
Florida State	7-2	.778	23-2-0	.920
Clemson	5-4	.556	16-9-0	.640
NC State	3-6	.333	17-9-0	.654
Maryland	3-6	.333	14-10-0	.583
Wake Forest	3-6	.333	15-12-0	.556
Boston College	0-8	.000	3-19-0	.136
COASTAL DIVISION
School	Conference	Pct.	Overall	Pct.
North Carolina	7-1	.875	23-1-0	.958
Virginia	7-2	.778	23-2-0	.920
Georgia Tech	6-3	.667	19-5-0	.792
Virginia Tech	5-4	.556	18-8-0	.692
Miami	4-5	.444	19-9-0	.679
Duke	3-6	.333	13-13-0	.500

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