Preview: No. 13 Maryland baseball gets set for early season test with weekend series against No. 4 Ole Miss

No. 13 Maryland baseball travels to Mississippi this weekend to face the defending champion, No. 4 Ole Miss for a three-game weekend series against the Rebels. 

“I mean, it’s one of the more talented teams we’ve played in a long time,” coach Rob Vaughn said. “They play the game the right way. They’re fundamentally sound, they’re talented. So they check every box on that on that regard.”

The Terps enter the series 2-2 following an offseason full of high expectations after finishing with a program-best 48 wins in 2022. 

Maryland features an electric offense that has generated 7.5 runs per game, headlined by juniors Matt Shaw and Luke Shliger. 

Shaw mashed 22 home runs and 67 RBIs in 2022, recording a .290 batting average. He’a started where he left off, staring at shortstop with a 1.517 OPS and .500 batting average with a home run and four RBIs thus far in 2023.

Shaw missed the last game against West Virginia due to sickness but Vaughn hopes to have him back for Friday’s game.  

After batting a team-high .353 last season, Shliger is off to a relatively slow start by his standards for the new campaign, recording a .250 batting average and a home run while providing good defense behind the dish through the first four games.

Sophomores Ian Petrutz and Elijah Lambros have started 2023 on fire. Petrutz is hitting .389 with two home runs and five RBIs as Maryland’s everyday DH, while Maryland’s starting center fielder has reached base 56.3% of the time with a .364 batting average and a home run of his own. Last season at South Carolina, Lambros only hit .152, reaching base 30% of the time. 

The Terps’ pitching staff appeared strong entering the season, headlined by 2022 Big Ten first team selection Jason Savacool, but have allowed five runs or more in three of their first four games.

In the season opener against USF, the junior right-hander gave up five earned runs, including a three-run home run in the first, before getting pulled at the end of the sixth inning in an eventual 9-8 loss. 

Savacool entered the season after posting a 2.93 ERA and an 8-3 record in 2022, projected to be the team’s ace.

Senior right-hander Nick Dean’s start in the second game against USF has been the pitching highlight so far. Dean pitched six innings, allowing only one hit and walk while striking out six. 

The Terps will need to command the strike zone this weekend against Ole Miss, as the Rebels have gotten off to a 4-0 start, averaging 11.5 runs per game. 

Senior infielder Peyton Chatagnier and junior outfielder/catcher Kemp Alderman have been the hottest for the Rebels, both recording two home runs thus far. Chatagnier is averaging a team-high .583 batting average alongside a .467 OPS. Alderman is also posting high averages, with a .467 batting average and a 1.556 OPS.

In the preseason, junior shortstop Jacob Gonzalez ranked the 4th best player in college baseball to watch for the MLB draft by CBS Sports’ R.J. Anderson. Gonzalez has lived up to that through four games so far, batting .313 with one home run and nine RBIs. 

Chatagnierna, Alderman and Gonzalez are just three of the many high-caliber players in the Rebels offense.

The pitching staff has started phenomenally as well, recording a collective 2.45 ERA. Sophomore left-hander Hunter Elliott leads the group after posting a 2.70 ERA and a 5-3 record in 2022, but will not pitch in the series due to forearm tightness. Even without Elliott the Rebels have capable arms.

Vaughn stresses the importance for the Terps to play high-quality opponents such as Ole Miss early in the season to find where the team stands. 

“It doesn’t do us any good to just start 20-0, and not challenge ourselves and then conference play rolls around and we’d see all these holes and all these deficiencies,” Vaughn said. “We’re gonna go out and measure ourselves against the best and I think Ole Miss is definitely one of those.”

Game one of the series is at 5 p.m. on Friday, game two is at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, and game three is at 2:30 on Sunday,

“I’m never gonna roll into it saying ‘Hey guys, I hope we go 1-2 this weekend’… we’re gonna play every game to win,” Vaughn said. “We’re going to put the guys in whatever positions we think gives us the best chance to win.”