It has been a tough start to the season for Maryland baseball, which is coming off arguably the most successful season in program history.
In 2022, Maryland won a program-record 48 games and the Big Ten regular-season championship and hosted an NCAA regional for the first time ever. The Terps were eager to repeat those feats in 2023, but they didn’t make it easy on themselves. Maryland put together one of its toughest nonconference schedules ever.
Head coach Rob Vaughn scheduled a weekend series against reigning national champion Ole Miss in Oxford (Feb. 24-26). The Terps then played the Rebels once more and fellow SEC power Vanderbilt in a nonconference tournament in Minneapolis (March 3-5).
Five games against top-10 competition, facing a pair of recent national champions, was the level of competition Vaughn and the Terps have wanted to play, but going 4-7 through their first 11 games wasn’t something they had in mind.
“I didn’t think any of our guys let the moment get too big,” Vaughn said following the series finale at Ole Miss on Feb. 26. “I don’t think the crowd took them out of their game. I don’t think anyone got overly emotional. I thought we kept our heads and we gave ourselves chances, but at the end of the day, we just weren’t good enough.”
The Terps have seen Friday night starter Jason Savacool at his best and less than that thus far. The junior right-hander struggled in his first outing of the season at USF but bounced back in Oxford. Savacool was masterful, giving up no earned runs in seven innings of work in a 9-2 win on Feb. 24.
“[Pitching coach Mike Morrison] and I just devised a really good plan from the get-go,” Savacool said. “A lot of breaking balls, just trying to stay down in the zone. I was able to execute that really well. I had good command of my breaking ball. My fastball command was all right, but it got the job done in the end.”
Maryland scored six or more runs in each of the three games at Ole Miss. Sophomore outfielder Ian Petrutz hit a grand slam in the series opener, his second of the season and the Terps’ fourth in five games at the time.
However, Maryland lost the series by giving up 10-plus runs twice. Beyond Savacool, the pitching staff has some noticeable issues that have been exposed against great competition in Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.
Losing Ryan Ramsey to the draft left a rotation spot the Terps are trying to fill, and they’re still looking for answers early on. Additionally, the bullpen has seen some struggles that have turned some games into slugfests. Maryland has given up five or more runs eight times in the early going.
“There’s definitely stuff coming out of that ‘pen and part of that is us as coaches figuring out the right roles for guys,” Vaughn said. “… When the games actually start, there’s another jersey over there. You’re trying to figure, ‘We have enough guys down there. Now, it’s our job to put them in spots to be successful.'”
Still, the offense has more than established itself as one of the best in the country. Petrutz is already more than halfway to his 2022 home run total with five in the early going. Maryland has also gotten great production out of senior infielder Nick Lorusso (.304/.389/.609), junior catcher Luke Shliger (.310/.482/.524) and sophomore outfielder Elijah Lambros (.265/.435/.618).
Not every game for the rest of the season will be against top-10 competition, which benefits Maryland, but the Terps do play UCF in Orlando in late March. That could be another marquee series after a hot start to 2023 by the Knights.
“The fight was good, but we have to get a lot better and I think our guys know that,” Vaughn said after the Ole Miss series.
Photo Credit: Chris Lyons/Maryland Terrapins