In the midst of a record-breaking season, the Terrapins baseball team is staying grounded. So grounded, in fact, that milestones seem to fly right over the Terps’ heads.
Their 3-0 victory over West Virginia last Wednesday was more than simply another nonconference win. It was their 22nd win of the season – the most ever under coach Erik Bakich.
“I just now found out about that,” right-hander Brady Kirkpatrick said after the game. “I never really knew about that.”
After taking two of three from Duke last weekend – their sixth and seventh ACC victories of the season – the Terps have also exceeded their previous best for conference wins total under Bakich.
This afternoon, the Terps will look to add to that when they start another ACC series against Clemson at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium. The matchup gives them an opportunity to keep moving up in the conference and escape a four-way tie for seventh place, and to improve their resume as the NCAA Tournament approaches.
Still, Bakich can’t afford to have his players get lost in a sea of postseason scenarios.
“To be honest, I’m really just worried about today, and that’s going to be the standard answer,” he said last week. “Focusing on today and just taking the approach that we need to get better today – not thinking two weeks out, one week out.”
As much as Bakich would like to keep the team’s focus on just this weekend’s games, the end of the season is slowly sneaking up on the Terps. They played their first game at No. 11 UCLA two months ago. Their season ends exactly one month from yesterday, against Virginia in College Park, giving them just 12 more chances in ACC play.
The team’s play against Clemson (21-17, 9-9 ACC) will become more and more important as each day wears on. With the Terps (25-14, 7-11) deadlocked in a four-way tie for seventh place in the conference, a series with the Tigers, who are tied for fifth, offers the team a chance to climb up the league ranks.
Clemson enters the weekend having won six of its past nine games, but the Tigers dropped two of three to No. 24 N.C. State last weekend.
The Terps’ remaining opponents in the ACC have a combined record of 41-31 in conference games, which does give the team an opportunity to make a move. Two of the teams – Clemson and Virginia – are at .500, while Virginia Tech is tied with the Terps. The biggest obstacle left on the schedule is an early May series at Florida State, the nation’s No. 1 team.
But racking up wins hasn’t been a problem for the Terps recently. They’ve won four of their past six ACC games and seven of their past nine, putting them in the best postseason position they’ve ever been in under Bakich.
Getting the end result they want, though, will be contingent on much, much more than simply posting never-before-seen numbers in the win column.
“Our goal is to get to the postseason, make the ACC Tournament and then get to a regional,” Kirkpatrick said. “Whatever wins it takes to get, that is what we’re going for.”
dgallen@umdbk.com
