John Szefc
Eight members of the Terrapins baseball team, including third baseman K.J. Hockaday and outfielder Greg Olenski, will no longer be with the program, according to an individual with knowledge of the situation.
Outfielders Matt Bosse and Kyle Moore, left-handers Sam Carmack, Cam Hatch and Chase Tokunaga, and catcher Alex Ramsay have also left the team to pursue opportunities elsewhere.
The individual said the players made their decisions because they did not fit into coach John Szefc’s small-ball, up-tempo style, and their playing time was going to suffer as a result. The individual also said that Hockaday’s two-week suspension in late-April for a violation of team rules was a major factor in his decision to depart from the Terps.
Hockaday, a 14th-round draft pick of the Baltimore Orioles in 2011, played in all 56 games as a freshman in 2012 and batted .305 for former coach Erik Bakich. He batted .286 in 36 games this spring.
Olenski batted .421 in limited time as a redshirt freshman in 2012. His role expanded this spring, and he appeared in 25 games (12 starts), hitting .255.
Bosse showed flashes of the power that he displayed in high school at Calvert Hall College High School, but hit only thee home runs in 51 appearances in two seasons.
Ramsay was one of the top players in the state of Maryland out of Severna Park, and he was part of Bakich’s top-25 recruiting class in 2010.
The Diamondback will have more on this story later.
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