Maryland baseball (17-10, 2-1 Big Ten) gets set for another midweek battle on Tuesday, this time taking host to William & Mary (18-11, 5-4 CAA).
The Terps have continued their hot streak since getting off to a disappointing 4-7 start, winning 13 of their last 16 games and five of their last seven. They picked up right where they left off this past weekend, taking two out of three over then-No. 25 Iowa in Iowa City.
Despite the series win against Iowa, knocking the Hawkeyes out of the top 25, Maryland was not placed in this week’s D1Baseball rankings. The Terps rank 57th in RPI, up from 84 a week ago; they are fifth in the Big Ten in RPI behind Indiana, Rutgers, Illinois and Michigan St.
The series against the Hawkeyes was Maryland’s inaugural Big Ten series this season as it entered conference play. The Terps will play their Big Ten home debut this weekend with a three-game bout against Rutgers.
But before that series, the Terps must handle business against their DMV counterpart in William & Mary.
The two teams have played four times in coach Rob Vaughn’s tenure. Maryland has won just one of those matchups, the most recent one in 2019. The Terps are 43-16-1 in the all-time matchup.
The Tribe will be the Terps’ second look at the CAA conference this season; they played Delaware twice earlier in the season, winning both games by a combined seven runs. The second matchup was an extra-innings thriller that the Terps won 13-11.
The Tribe currently rank fifth in the conference standings –– tied with Delaware –– but sport a .621 overall winning percentage compared to the Blue Hens’ .481.
They rank first in the conference in runs scored, runs batted in and on-base percentage, and are tied for second in hits. The pitching staff also sits among the best in the conference, ranking first in earned run average (3.32) and strikeouts (248).
The Tribe are currently on a five-game win streak and have not lost two games in a row since March 10 and 11 against Charleston.
William and Mary’s offense is a two-headed monster led by senior third baseman Ben Williamson and senior center fielder Joe Delossantos, the second and third hitters in the order, respectively. Williamson currently holds a ridiculous .431 batting average and a 1.260 OPS with six home runs and 28 runs batted in. Delossantos, while not as dominant statistically, also has 28 RBIs on the year to go along with four home runs, a .341 average and a .963 OPS.
Maryland’s offense has been led as of late by a two-headed monster as well, senior third baseman Nick Lorusso and junior shortstop Matt Shaw.
Lorusso will look to keep his program-record 25-game hit streak alive on Tuesday. The former Villanova transfer is hitting a scorching .376 on the year with 11 home runs and 43 RBIs –– all team leads.
“That guy should be playing in AA right now,” Vaughn said. “The Terps are very fortunate that scouts overthink things a lot.”
Shaw has also been on a tear as of late, batting .533 with eight hits, two home runs and 10 RBIs in the last four games. Shaw’s efforts were rewarded with Big Ten and Perfect Game Player of the Week honors. The highlight of Shaw’s recent weekend was a go-ahead 507-foot grand slam on Friday.
Lorusso and Shaw will look to continue their hot streaks against the Tribe at ‘The Bob.’ First pitch is set for 6:30.
