Redshirt junior outfielder Brian Jarosinski has seen his statistics decline after suffering a MCL knee injury in practice. “Jaws” raised his average 30 points, to .247, this past weekend.

When most people hear the name Jaws, they think of the vicious creature looking to sink its teeth into helpless humans. When the Terrapin baseball team hears the name Jaws, they think of Brian Jarosinski.

Jarosinski, the team’s redshirt junior outfielder, was given the nickname “Jaws” by Terp coach Terry Rupp for the resemblance to his last name. After last season’s breakout year for the Terps, the nickname has turned into a symbol of sorts for his powerful ability at the plate.

But this season, Jarosinski has struggled to sink his teeth into many pitches.

Jarosinski made a large impact last season with a .272 batting average and team-leading 16 homers and 58 RBIs. His power numbers ranked among the ACC’s top 10.

This season, he has struggled to recover from a left-knee injury which forced him to miss 15 games — nearly a quarter of the Terps’ season. Through 28 games, Jarosinski is batting a disappointing .247 with just two home runs and 12 RBIs. He hasn’t homered since March 11 against N.C. State.

On the day of the injury, Jarosinski was running during a practice drill and stopped short rounding second base. He slid back into the base, but his knee got stuck and bent in the opposite direction. The awkward slide left him with a slight medial collateral ligament tear. Thankfully for Jarosinski, he didn’t need surgery and just needed time to heal.

“It’s just frustrating because you don’t know when you wake up if it’s going to be OK,” he said. “Sometimes it feels fine throughout the day, but during [pregame] infield-outfield practice it hurts.”

The knee injury hindered his power and has given him problems finding his timing at the plate. In the first days after returning from the injury, Jarosinski had trouble hitting breaking balls.

“It just takes some time to get your timing back,” he said. “That comes as you play.”

Since returning from the MCL tear, Jarosinski eased his way back into the Terps’ everyday lineup as the designated hitter. He struggled and was uncomfortable not fielding.

Coming into last weekend’s important series against Wake Forest, he was batting just .217. But he also began to play his natural outfield position in game situations, a small victory.

Over the three-game span against the Demon Deacons, he raised his average 30 points to .247.

He hit the ball hard all weekend and showed signs of last year’s player. In the team’s lone win against Wake Forest, Jarosinski hit the game-winning single in the 10th inning.

After the game, Rupp said he felt like Jarosinski had regained a swing that had seemed lost for weeks.

“He had a great at-bat there and finally got a pitch and hit it in the hole hard,” Rupp said. “That’s what he needed to do, and that was a big lift for us.”

Jarosinski agreed that his swing was back and said he looked forward to being more productive.

“It’s just good to be back in the form of things,” he said. “I would say I’m at about 95 percent right now.”

The Terps will be relying on Jaws down the stretch as they head toward the ACC tournament. With Jarosinski feeling healthy again, his potential power provides a boost in the middle of the Terps’ lineup, something they’ll need during the tournament.

But, like the injury, only time will determine if Jarosinski is able to hit like the killer shark he was named after.