In the fourth inning of the Terrapins baseball team’s game against High Point on Sunday, center fielder Anthony Papio stepped to the plate with a chance to give the Terps their first lead.
Papio, who went 1-for-6 at the plate in the first two games of the series, ripped an RBI single to give the Terps a 3-2 lead. Though coach John Szefc’s squad went on to lose, 4-3, Papio put the Terps in a position to win.
While Papio is working through an early season slump — he’s hitting .211 — the redshirt senior has stepped up in crucial situations, like he did Sunday. When the Terps (14-14) play at Liberty (16-14) on Tuesday, Papio will look to continue driving in teammates when he gets the opportunity.
“I know I’m capable of doing it,” Papio said of clutch hits. “I’ve done it before. Baseball is a game of ups and downs. As a hitter, you’re going to fail more than you succeed. My mindset has been the same throughout, and things are starting to fall for me.”
Papio was a crucial piece to the Terps reaching the Super Regional the past two seasons. The 6-foot-2, 195-pound outfielder hit .271 his redshirt sophomore year and .262 last season.
But as the only senior in the Terps’ lineup this season, Papio has struggled to lead his team at the plate. He holds the second worst batting average of the Terps’ lineup.
Yet even in games when he hasn’t hit well, the Olney native has notched game-changing hits.
In the Terps’ contest at VCU on March 30, Papio went 1-for-4 at the plate, but his lone hit blew the game open. With Szefc’s team ahead 4-1 in the seventh inning, Papio hit a two-out single that drove in two runs.
Papio also went 1-for-4 against Bryant on March 11, but he tied the game in the sixth inning with an RBI double after the Terps struggled to string hits together. They rode that momentum to score two more runs in the frame and seal the victory.
He has 15 RBIs this season, the fifth most on the team.
“He’s come up big for us a lot the last few weeks,” right-hander Brian Shaffer said. “It’s good to see that he’s out swinging like he used to.”
Szefc credits Papio’s experience to stepping up in big situations.
To combat his struggles, Papio said he’s started delaying his swing on pitches and he’s studied how to attack different pitches, which has made him more productive recently.
“We need him to be heavily involved in what’s going on,” Szefc said March 20. “He’s got more experience than anybody on this team.”
Szefc said Papio is mentally tough, so he doesn’t get discouraged when things aren’t going his way.
The fourth-year coach believes the veteran will solve his issues, and he said it’s imperative he does so if the Terps want to make another deep postseason run. While he figures it out, though, Papio hopes to continue thriving in clutch situations.
“Sometimes you start off slow and you just can’t find some hits,” Papio said March 20. “I’m just trying to do my best to contribute to a win any way I can. I’m starting to find some holes, which is helping out. It just comes and goes.”
