Terrapins baseball coach John Szefc had high expectations for freshman second baseman Nick Dunn before he arrived in College Park.

The Sunbury, Pennsylvania, native hit .477 and never struck out his senior year at Shikellamy High School as he earned the conference’s Player of the Year award.

But just 12 games into his Terps career, Dunn has surpassed the fourth-year coach’s expectations. The rookie, who won Big Ten Player and Freshman of the Week on Monday, is third in the conference with a .442 batting average.

In his past six contests, Dunn has only increased his level of play. He’s hit .619 and has helped the Terps break out of an early offensive slump. When the Terps (5-7) play a three-game series against Bryant (8-2) this weekend at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium, Dunn will look to continue his success at the plate.

“That’s huge, especially for a freshman,” shortstop Kevin Smith said Sunday. “Him coming in with such huge expectations — he’s exceeded them all so far. He’s just really poised at the plate. He’ll keep doing it. This isn’t really a streaky thing.”

Entering College Park, Dunn was projected to fill in at second base for Brandon Lowe, who hit .331 last season before the Tampa Bay Rays selected him in the third round of the MLB draft.

Szefc said Dunn’s playing style is similar to Lowe’s, and Smith said the Terps joke about how similarly the two play. Both are talented fielders with a knack for getting on base, Smith said. And so far, Dunn has outperformed Lowe’s batting average as a Terp.

Dunn credited playing for the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League this summer for his smooth transition to college baseball. Playing against college pitchers helped him assimilate, as he hit .321, which was the fifth-best batting average in the league.

Thunderbolts coach Doug Remer said that when he saw Dunn’s swing for the first time, he knew he was going to be a good hitter. And Remer said he’s not surprised that Dunn has emerged as one of the Terps’ top hitters this early.

At the beginning of the season, though, Dunn got out to a slow start, hitting .263 in his first five games. But as he broke out of his slump, so did the Terps. Szefc’s squad averaged 2.6 runs in those five contests, but it’s averaged 8.43 scores per game since.

“To come in as a freshman and do what he’s doing, it takes pressure off of other people,” third baseman Andrew Bechtold said. “It’s fun to watch him play. He’s loose and relaxed.”

Szefc said two of Dunn’s strengths are his strike-zone discipline and ability to stay composed under pressure. Over the summer, Remer said Dunn never got overwhelmed, even when he was facing esteemed college pitchers for the first time.

The 5-foot-10, 175-pound second baseman proved his poise in two games this week. He hit an RBI double in the eighth inning of the Terps’ game against East Carolina on Sunday to tie the game. In the Terps’ contest Wednesday against George Washington, he hit a home run to cut his team’s deficit to one.

Though the Terps lost both contests, Dunn kept Szefc’s squad in the game.

“You really can’t ask much more of a true freshman,” Szefc said. “If you asked him, he’d probably say that’s what he expects of himself. He’s not overly surprised. Good players expect to have success.”

Szefc said Dunn is one of the most consistent players on the team, as he’s recorded a hit in all but one game this season.

But the Terps have dropped their past three contests despite averaging seven runs in those games. The Terps’ starting weekend rotation will be back on the mound against the Bulldogs, though, and Szefc said he can rely on Dunn to produce at the plate.

Szefc “told me that he would put his house on it that Nick would have an opportunity to go pro,” Remer said. “I never saw an at-bat this summer where he didn’t look like he was about to get a hit. Every time he was at the plate, you just knew he was going to hit the ball hard somewhere. That doesn’t happen often.”