Maryland baseball travels to Boston College for weekend series

Photo courtesy of University of Maryland Athletics

Maryland baseball (32-18, 10-11 Big Ten) will play against a former ACC rival for its final three road games of the regular season when it visits Boston College this weekend. 

The Terps and Eagles (21-25, 8-19 ACC) enter the series going in different directions. B.C. has lost its past six games, while Maryland lost six of its past seven.

But Maryland is still trying to save its season after struggling mightily in conference play in the middle of the season. It sits eighth in the Big Ten standings and would be the last team to make the playoffs if the conference tournament started this weekend. 

To make matters worse, the Terps have played three more conference games this year than the teams they are sandwiched between—Michigan State and Ohio State. Both teams play conference games this weekend. They will need help from Minnesota and Northwestern — two of the bottom four teams of the conference — to keep their playoff chances alive.

Regardless, the Terps have used their midseason struggles to overcome any adversity they’ve had in recent games, highlighted by their midweek comeback against USC Upstate. They found themselves in a seemingly insurmountable 8-0 hole, but rallied for 11 unanswered runs to secure an uncanny victory.

“That’s one of the greatest comebacks I’ve ever been a part of,” coach Matt Swope said after the game.

The midweek win boosted Maryland’s RPI by five spots to No. 31. The Terps will have a chance to improve their RPI when they travel to Chestnut Hill, MA.

The Eagles enter the series at the bottom of the ACC in both earned run average (6.74) and batting average (.272).

Kyle Wolff is the only player with a minimum of ten at-bats to hit above .300. The sophomore leads the team in most hitting categories, including hits (56) and doubles (13).

On the mound, John West is one of two pitchers sporting an ERA below five. The senior pitched at least four innings in all his outings this season and has recently been performing well, allowing just five earned runs across 14 combined innings. 

The series was originally scheduled to be only two games, but on May 7, an extra game was added to Saturday, making it a doubleheader.

In Maryland’s previous series against Rutgers, Saturday became a doubleheader due to Sunday’s projected forecast, so the new addition is nothing new for the Terps.

“I think we’ve done a great job all year keeping the energy up between games,” Sam Hojnar said on Thursday about Saturday’s doubleheader. “Last week at Rutgers, we lost a tough game one, and then by the time game two was rolling around, we were having fun and getting the energy up in the dugout.”

The doubleheader may also change Maryland’s pitching, as it has used two different game-one starters in its past two series.

Maryland will have the opportunity to close out the weekend series on Saturday if they win both games. First pitch will start at 2 p.m. on Saturday, and game two begins roughly 45 minutes after the conclusion of game one.