After the Terrapin baseball team’s series at Miami last weekend, coach Erik Bakich made it clear he was quickly tiring of talk about his team’s nine-game losing streak and its offensive ineptitude.
After yesterday’s convincing win at Towson, Bakich was in a predictably better mood.
Slow offensive starts have plagued the Terps all season, but yesterday they wasted no time taking control of the game, collecting 13 of their 15 hits and scoring all of their runs in the first five innings on the way to a 10-5 victory.
The Tigers did their best to aid the Terps’ lineup with six errors, resulting in only two earned runs for the Terps. But there was still a lot for Bakich to be pleased about, especially considering the Terps managed just one unearned run in their 3-1 loss to the Tigers on April 21.
“Today was the kind of breakout party for the offense we have been looking for,” Bakich said. “We were able to string together a bunch of quality at-bats, and we also had a number of clutch two-out RBI which was a huge part of our success.”
Once again, first baseman Gary Schneider paced the offensive attack, despite the fact he has had only 31 at-bats and made only six starts.
Schneider ended up playing in all three games in the Miami series and responded to his coach’s show of faith by going 7-for-12 with three RBI. Yesterday, against a significantly less talented group of pitchers, Schneider continued his torrid hitting by going 4-for-4 with two more RBI to up his season batting average to .484.
“I think there was a game earlier this season when he went 3-for-5 and then didn’t play for a while, and it made him wonder when his next at-bat would come,” outfielder Mike Rozak said. “In that position, you just have to treat every at-bat like it’s your last. That kid just doesn’t want to come out of the lineup anymore, and he is hitting like it, too.”
The win was especially gratifying for some of the veteran players — not only because they were able to snap the losing streak, but also because they were able to snap it against in-state rival Towson. The Terps (16-33) entered the game in danger of losing to Towson (16-31) twice in a season for the second time in three seasons.
Yesterday, they scored two runs in the top of the first inning when Schneider followed a Zach Fisher double with an RBI double down the left-field line. He came around to score two batters later on a throwing error by Tigers’ second baseman Chris Wychock.
The Terps scored twice more in the fourth inning, but they put the game out of reach in the fifth inning when they scored six runs with the help of six hits and two errors. Schneider recorded two hits; third baseman Matt Murakami, who went 3-for-5 in the game, had an RBI double; and the Terps stole a run when right fielder Kevin Tehansky scampered home as the Tigers tried to end the inning by gunning down second baseman David Poutier at second base.
“Coach told us before the game to act like we had a nine-game winning streak instead of a losing streak as soon as we stepped off the bus, and that’s what we did,” Rozak said. “It felt good to know we could still do it. It was nice to finally be the ones on the field shaking hands with each other after the game instead of our opponents.”
mlemaire@umdbk.com
