Maryland baseball begins championship title defense against Georgia Southern

Maryland baseball begins its Big Ten title defense Friday when it travels to Georgia Southern to take on the Eagles in a weekend series.

The Terps saw a lot of turnover in the offseason, but it hasn’t stopped them from looking forward to repeating as Big Ten champions.

“I think no matter what the turnover is, nobody’s going to feel bad for you that you had seven guys drafted [and] nobody’s going to feel bad for you that we have a new staff,” coach Matt Swope said. “We’ve set the standard of going out there and trying to win, and that’s what we’re going to do in each and every game.”

Only 14 players remain from last season’s team, and part of that is due to the 2023 MLB Draft — Maryland lost key contributors that affected the team both at the plate and on the mound.

The Terps’ most notable position player losses are Matt Shaw and Nick Lorusso. Shaw was selected with the No. 13 overall pick by the Chicago Cubs and became the highest-drafted player in Maryland history. Shaw had a .341 batting average and drove in 69 RBIs in 62 games last season. Lorusso wasn’t picked until the ninth round but had a whopping .379 batting average and set the single-season RBI record for Maryland with 105 through just 61 games. The two alone accounted for 31.5 percent of the team’s total RBIs last year.

Swope is hoping Iowa transfer Sam Hojnar will make a difference for this year’s offense. Hojnar batted .255 and drove in 59 RBIs in 59 games last season for the Hawkeyes, and is expected to play second base this year as Kevin Keister moves to shortstop to replace Shaw.

“I played shortstop pretty much my whole life until I got to college, and I’ve been taking ground balls all four years I’ve been here, so it really hasn’t been too much of a problem,” Keister said about the move to shortstop.

Swope also mentioned he’s looking for holdovers like Elijah Lambros to step up this season for the Terps’ offense. Lambros slugged 14 home runs and was tied for third on the team in RBIs with 56 through 59 games last year.

“No one really has to fill [Shaw and Lorusso’s] shoes just because those are two of the best players that have ever played at the University of Maryland,” Keister said. “We’re not going to have 50 home runs that they hit last year. So we just kind of played the game a little differently … we have a lot of good depth from the transfer portal and from freshmen coming in.”

On the mound, Maryland lost ace pitcher Jason Savacool, who the St. Louis Cardinals selected with the No. 185 pick in the draft. Savacool led all Terps in strikeouts and innings pitched last season, leading the starting rotation in ERA.

The Terps brought in nine transfers to the pitching staff, hoping to improve a unit that threw the fourth-worst ERA in the conference last year. One arm who is trying to compete for a rotation spot is Omar Melendez. Melendez was named the Southwestern Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year in 2023 for Alabama State, posting a 12-0 record and a 2.52 ERA in 93 innings pitched.

“I think early on in the season you’re just going to look for guys that take advantage of opportunities and see what kind of roles they can carve out,” Swope said.

Swope is in a new role with the team this year as Maryland’s head coach. Swope was the program’s former pitching coach but got a promotion after former head coach Rob Vaughn left for Alabama in the offseason.

“The guys that are back know what they’re getting with me, and we’ve been here a long time trying to build a culture for what it is today,” Swope said. “We’ll just kind of see how they come together, and that’s [what] we want to be a player-led program, not a coach-led program.”

The Terps will look to start their season on the right foot as they go on the road to take on a Georgia Southern team that was middle of the pack last year. The Eagles tied for eighth in the Sun Belt Conference standings last season and finished with an overall record of 27-29. 

Friday’s first pitch is set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday’s game will start at 2 p.m. and Sunday’s series finale will begin at 1 p.m.