Before Maryland baseball’s season began, coach Rob Vaughn talked up his team’s aggressive baserunning.
The Terps stole 101 bases in 2017, which ranked second in the Big Ten. With Vaughn ascending from assistant to head coach, Anthony Papio returning as first base coach and the team bringing back most of its best base-stealers, it seemed the Terps would continue running frequently this year.
Midway through Vaughn’s first season at the helm, the Terps haven’t lived up to the standard they set in 2017. But in Tuesday’s 2-1 extra-inning win over James Madison, they flashed their potential, stealing a season-high five bases in an attempt to jump-start a struggling offense and recreate the team’s success from last campaign.
“When you’re not having a ton of baserunners, it’s hard to steal a lot of bases,” Vaughn said. “That’s just kind of part of the DNA of this offense. When we’re firing the right way and doing stuff, that’s a really key piece of it.”
[Read more: Maryland baseball overcomes offensive struggles in 2-1 win over James Madison]
Maryland’s struggling lineup couldn’t capitalize on any of the five steals, all of which came in the first two innings. The Terps had just seven hits in 12 innings Tuesday and went 3-for-17 with runners in scoring position.
In Papio’s second season as first-base coach following a five-year playing career in College Park, he hasn’t had as many opportunities to send runners. Maryland has a .232 average this year after batting .274 a year ago.
[Read more: Maryland baseball’s slumping offense hopes for a resurgent second half from Justin Morris]
The Terps say they’ve remained aggressive, when they’ve had their chances. With 15 baserunners in last weekend’s series opener against Illinois, Maryland swiped three bags. The Terps stole four when they had 22 runners in their April 3 matchup with William & Mary. But in both games, Maryland failed to cash in and lost.
“[Papio’s] been working with us since day one,” shortstop AJ Lee said. “It’s been a grind for us all season and we’re grinding at that, too.”
Lee, who leads the team with 11 steals, had three against the Dukes. The flurry of steals was a breakout for the Terps, who were without a steal in seven of their previous 10 games.
Vaughn said Maryland’s decrease in steals is due in part to its past success, as the team’s tendency to run is on every opponent’s scouting report. Northwestern pitchers, for example, continually attempted to pick off second baseman Nick Dunn, despite the junior being 1-for-4 in attempts this season.
The risk-taking on the base paths against James Madison looked more recognizable to last season’s squad.
“Some of the teams we’ve had have done a better job of trying to control that,” Vaughn said. “We just have to do a good job of staying aggressive and staying smart with it, and when it’s there, take it. And when it’s not, trust ourselves to find other ways to get it done.”
