The Terrapins baseball team proved how much can change in a day during its series against High Point this weekend.
After putting up just two runs in a Friday loss, the Terps matched a season high with 13 runs in a win Saturday to even the series. The Terps looked to carry their momentum from Saturday into the rubber match against the Panthers on Sunday afternoon.
But coach John Szefc’s squad only managed six hits, falling to High Point, 4-3. Offensive inconsistency doomed the Terps this weekend, as they dropped the series, 2-1. The Terps have lost two straight weekend series after winning four of their first five.
“You lose a series at home to a nonconference opponent — that shouldn’t happen,” Szefc said. “You can’t throw eight zeros up there like we did [Sunday] and expect to win.”
The weekend started with what Szefc called one of the Terps’ worst games of the year.
On Friday, right-hander Mike Shawaryn, who was tabbed as a preseason All-American, struggled for the second consecutive outing, allowing three runs in a career-low 3.2 innings. The offense went 2-for-10 with runners on base and could not work out of the early hole Shawaryn built, falling, 7-2.
The offense rebounded the following day, though. Nine Terps combined for 11 hits as left fielder Marty Costes, who went 5-for-11 from the plate with three home runs in the series, led the offense with two bombs.
“We did a really good job bringing the energy on Saturday and bouncing back,” center fielder Anthony Papio said. “That was big for us.”
But when the temperatures dropped into the mid-40s with 15 mph winds Sunday, the Terps’ offense couldn’t string together hits.
Szefc’s squad recorded six hits in the game, and all three runs in their 4-3 loss came in one inning. The Terps held a 3-2 lead entering the seventh inning, but right-hander Brian Shaffer, who had thrown consecutive complete games entering Sunday, surrendered two runs in the frame.
Only one Terp reached base the rest of the contest, as the Panthers (20-8) sealed the series victory.
Shaffer said his fastball was the only pitch he executed well, and he struggled with his changeup and slider.
“If you’re going to try to beat a team, you can’t have one pitch working for you,” Shaffer said. “One mistake will do it. That just can’t happen.”
To solve the offense’s stability issues, Szefc said experienced players need to step up. Shortstop Kevin Smith and Papio are the Terps’ only players who started more than 60 games last year.
Yet entering Sunday’s contest, Smith and Papio were batting .274 and .198, respectively. Given Smith’s inconsistency, Szefc dropped the sophomore to sixth in the order Saturday after he occupied the leadoff spot for the majority of the season.
Last year, the Terps relied on their veteran offensive players to reach the Super Regional for the second straight season. While the offense’s disparity hasn’t been an issue for the Terps all season, Papio said this weekend’s showing has left the group searching for a spark.
“We’re going to need somebody to get a big two-out hit sometimes to get us going,” Papio said. “We hit a lot of balls hard [Sunday], but they didn’t fall, necessarily. We’re just going to keep grinding away in practice. Things will start coming together.”
Szefc said irregularity on offense and defense has plagued the Terps all season. The Terps have reached a game over .500 three times this year, but they’ve lost their next contest each time they’ve broken that mark.
So the fourth-year coach wants his veteran players like Smith and Papio to take charge.
“If we’re going to be a postseason team,” Szefc said, “that’s just what’s got to happen.”
