The Teams: Maryland Terrapins (5-3) vs Princeton Tigers (0-0) Weekend Preview
The Time: Friday @ 4 p.m. EST, Saturday Double Header @ 12 p.m., Sunday @ 1 p.m.
The Location: Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium – College Park, Md.
Live Stats: Here
Live Broadcast: WMUCSports.com
Pitching Matchups:
Game 1: LHP Jimmy Reed (1-1, 2.25 ERA, 12.0 IP, 11 SO, 3 BB) vs RHP Zak Hermans (2012: 6-2, 3.00 ERA, 63 IP, 60 SO, 22 BB)
Game 2: RHP Brady Kirkpatrick (1-1, 1.59 ERA, 11.1 IP, 8 SO, 6 BB) vs LHP Michael Fagan (2012: 1-4, 7.57 ERA, 27.1 IP, 27 SO, 37 BB)
Game 3: RHP Kevin Mooney (0-0, 4.26 ERA, 6.1 IP, 4 SO, 6 BB) vs RHP Kevin Link (2012: 3-3, 5.73 ERA, 48.2 IP, 26 SO, 12 BB)
Game 4: LHP Alex Robinson (0-1, 5.40 ERA, 10.0 IP, 10 SO, 4 BB) vs RHP Mike Ford (2012: 4-4, 3.60 ERA, 50.0 IP, 26 SO, 17 IP)
The Backstory:
The Terrapins are a hot baseball team at the moment, currently riding a five-game winning streak after having lost their first three games to the LSU Tigers to start the season. Since those first three games, in which they were outscored 40-4 against a pretty good SEC opponent, the Terrapins have gotten their bats heated up again versus Oakland and James Madison. During their five game winning streak, Maryland has outscored it’s opponents 45-16, scoring eight or more runs in four of the last five games. They are looking to extend that winning streak against a Princeton, a team that has yet to play a game this year, as they head into conference play. Their first ACC game is next weekend against UVA, but Princeton is their final non-conference weekend series.
The Terrapins are looking to ride superstar Charlie White during this stretch. White has been the best Terp by far this year, leading the ACC in stolen bases and pretty much every other offensive statistical category. He leads the team in bases stolen, batting average (.462), slugging percentage (.577), on-base percentage (.600), and hits (12). His four stolen bases against Oakland during the first game of last Friday’s double-header made him the first Terp to do that since 1998. Talk about a do-it-all player.
Princeton is looking to improve on a solid 2012 season, in which they went 20-19 and finished second in the Lou Gehrig Division in the Ivy League. The Tigers were just behind Ivy League-champion Cornell, and return the vast majority of their players, so look for them to be very similar to last year. The pitching staff gets back three starters and 11 slingers overall, and the positional players get back six from that 2012 team. They do, however, lose out on two players, shortstop/RHP Matt Bowman and catcher Sam Mulroy, both of which were drafted by the Mets and the Angels respectively last spring.
Among those returning players is their ace, Zak Hermans, who will get the start in the first game of the series. Hermans is the incumbent Ivy League Pitcher of the Year and an All-Ivy First Team selection, who went 6-2 last year with a 3.00 ERA. He averages a shade under a strikeout an inning, with 60 K’s over 63 innings last year. The Terrapins are fully expected to have a rough go of things the first match with him tossing the ball, considering he is a pitcher who completes games and doesn’t give up too much in the run department. Last year, he pitched two complete games, one of which was a 14-strikeout, nine-inning performance against eventual champion Cornell during a 1-0 win.
The Tigers also get back All-Ivy First teamer Alex Keller. Keller had a very solid 2012, hitting for a .346 average and batting in 18 runners.
Terrapin Takes
- .325 – the batting average of the Terrapins over the course of this five game winning streak. Maryland has had 20 extra base hits during that stretch.
- 26 – the number of bases stolen by the Terps during a four-game series with Oakland. 11 of those steals came during one game, which was an All-Time record for the program.
- 11 – the number of stolen bases by Charlie White, who leads the ACC in that statistical category.
- 47 – the numer of hits Alec Keller had last season for the Tigers. He is the only returner to hit over .300 in 2012.
- 32 – the number of players on Princeton’s incredibly deep roster.