Alex Robinson
The Terrapins baseball team’s lack of depth and experience at the back end of its starting pitching rotation was a glaring concern entering its 2013 campaign.
That inexperience has translated to inconsistency on Sundays.
For the third consecutive ACC series, the Terps failed to pull out a victory in a rubber game when they fell to N.C. State yesterday, 9-4. They have now lost four straight series and fallen to 4-8 in conference play.
Coach John Szefc has used freshman Alex Robinson and junior Jake Stinnett — both of whom hadn’t logged a collegiate start entering this season — as game-three starters over the past three series. The duo has allowed a combined 12 earned runs on 11 hits in 5.2 innings of work during that span.
“You need a guy on Sunday that has been a starter in this league before, and not having that has definitely led to our lack of success in those games,” Szefc said. “If you get a good start, you’re going to give yourself a chance to win, and if you don’t, you’re usually going to lose. And that’s been our story all year.”
The Terps dropped the series opener Friday night, 3-2, despite a late-game rally that included tallies in the eighth and ninth innings. Left-hander Jimmy Reed went strong for eight innings, allowing only one earned run on five hits, but untimely errors again plagued the Terps as the Wolfpack jumped to an early 3-0 lead that proved insurmountable.
Right-hander Brady Kirkpatrick helped the group respond Saturday, though. After allowing two runs in the first inning, the junior held N.C. State scoreless over the next six innings. Freshman Kevin Mooney finished off the final two innings for his third save of the season in the eventual 3-2 Terps win.
The team’s hope of a series victory ended early on Sunday. The Wolfpack scored nine runs in the first four innings, building too big of a lead for the Terps to overcome.
But Szefc isn’t blaming only his young starters for his team’s shortcomings. His offense struggled, too. The Terps left 12 runners on base and failed to execute at the plate when there were opportunities to manufacture runs.
“We need to get quality at-bats and do the little things offensively, but we haven’t been doing that,” Szefc said. “We can rack up 11 or 12 hits, but if we aren’t getting quality at-bats when the money is on the table, then we’re going to struggle to find success.”
Nonetheless, the Terps are still seeking a third starting pitcher with the consistency to give the team a chance to win a conference series. The only problem is Szefc is running out of options. Stinnett and Robinson have more starting pitching experience than anyone in the bullpen besides Mooney, who has settled in as the team’s late-game reliever and closer.
“We need to give them the confidence they need to perform,” Reed said. “They need to know that they have the talent and that they have what it takes to win at this level.”
sportsdbk@gmail.com
