Preview: Maryland baseball hosts Indiana for weekend series

Maryland baseball remains at home this weekend for a series against Indiana. The two teams met last year in a weekend series in Bloomington, Indiana, when the Terps won each game by a minimum of six runs en route to a series sweep.

Maryland (21-8, 3-3 Big Ten) sits above Indiana (16-14, 1-2 Big Ten) in the Big Ten standings. But the Terps have played double the number of conference games as the Hoosiers and recent performances appear to have the two teams going in different directions.

Indiana has won four of its past six games, including a resounding 16-7 win on Tuesday over Indiana State.

The Hoosiers have been led all year by a strong offensive attack. They head into the weekend series leading the Big Ten in home runs and RBIs. Six different players enter the weekend batting over .330 with a minimum of 19 games played.

Spearheading the offensive attack is sophomore Devin Taylor, who had a record-breaking season for Indiana last year. He broke the freshman RBI record (59) and has picked up right where he left off last season, notching 25 RBIs on the campaign. 

Taylor’s RBI total is good for just third on the team. Fellow sophomore Tyler Cerny leads the team with 36 RBIs. Cerny recorded four RBIs in Tuesday’s performance against Indiana State and will look to continue his 1.2 RBI per game average against a struggling Maryland pitching staff.

“They were very highly touted going into the year based on their offense,” coach Matt Swope said. “We’re gonna have to step up, whether it’s Duke McCarron or Evan Smith, guys that [are] really, really talented, but just maybe getting a little bit more opportunity now and take advantage of that.”

The Terps’ pitching had performed well so far this season but has hit a rough patch over the last four games, allowing 43 runs in that span. The 4.96 team ERA is still good for third in the Big Ten, but the team’s struggles may continue after Trystan Sarcone suffered an apartment elbow injury on Wednesday. 

Swope said on Thursday he doesn’t have an update on Sarcone’s status, but he did have an MRI.

The injury is a massive loss for an already injured Maryland bullpen. Injuries to James Gladden and Garrett French earlier in the season forced the team to use various arms in different situations. Sarcone had seemingly emerged as a reliable pitcher, throwing 15.2 innings.

Sarcone’s injury will force Swope to dig deeper into the bullpen and potentially use younger arms for key outs, such as McCarron and Smith.

Swope said that Maryland’s usual weekend starters will be on the mound against Indiana. Kenny Lippman, Logan Koester and Joey McMannis will be the arms needed to slow down a potent Hoosiers offense.

The biggest weakness of Indiana this season has been its defense. The Hoosiers feature the second-lowest fielding percentage in the Big Ten, leading to 50 unearned runs. Indiana has the lowest ERA in the conference at 7.05.

One of the arms the Terps will likely see is Connor Foley, who has been the lone bright spot on Indiana’s pitching staff. 

Foley made 20 relief appearances as a freshman last season for the Hoosiers but has been excellent as a starter in 2024. Foley has pitched at least four innings in every outing this season and is one of just two pitchers on the staff with an ERA under four.

Maryland is coming off an emotional comeback victory against UMBC and will look to continue that momentum into its weekend series.

“[It’s] certainly better than emotional loss,” Swope said. “The guys believe that they can win, and they’ve kind of built that themselves. So, I think the guys are confident. We just got to come out and execute.”

Game one of the series on Friday is set to start at 6 p.m. The series will round out on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at noon.