After his team’s 12-3 shellacking of George Washington yesterday at Shipley Field, Terrapin baseball coach Terry Rupp walked past senior Matt Maropis and joked, “Is today senior night again?”

Maropis laughed, knowing he had just followed up his 3-for-5 senior day performance on Sunday by hitting one single short of the cycle last night.

“Fine,” Rupp said, “the next seven games are senior night.”

That’s just it for the Terps (21-28). At this point in the season, they are no longer in the postseason race, and the players are trying to find different motivations to keep themselves going down the stretch.

For Maropis, who went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a home run, that motivation is clear.

“This is it for us,” he said, speaking on behalf of his fellow seniors. “Our goal here is .500. If we win out, we’re .500. I haven’t had a .500 season since I’ve been here.”

For others, the motivation could have been that the Terps entered the game undefeated in home non-conference games. And after last night, thanks largely to Maropis, the Terps continued that streak to 10-0.

“Matt’s been swinging the bat real well lately,” Rupp said. “It helps our lineup immensely when he’s swinging the bat well in the two-hole. It takes the pressure off of Dan Melvin and [Gerry] Spessard and those guys.”

Though Spessard reached only once on a walk, Melvin had another solid night, hitting 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. The big person to step up was sophomore Steve Braun, who after going 1-8 in his last three games, went 3-for-4 with three RBIs.

“[My offensive explosion] was more so me staying closed, and seeing the ball a little longer,” Braun said. “And with us it’s kind of contagious.

Once the top of our [lineup] gets going, we all get going.”

When Braun said “all”, he literally meant “all.” Every single non-redshirted position player checked into the game last night for the Terps. Even pitcher Casey Baron got to play an inning in left field. It didn’t matter; the Terps were up by so much.

“You always gotta root for them,” Braun said. “Those guys bust their ass every day. It’s exciting to see them get in there.”

Some of them not only got in there, but made a difference. In freshman Dan Benick’s case, a big difference.

Pinch hitting for Mike Murphy in the bottom of the sixth, Benick belted a grandslam over the centerfield wall to put the Terps up 12-0.

The large lead was a far cry from the last time the two teams met on March 1. That time it was 4-4 going into the bottom of the ninth, until sophomore Nick Jowers came through with a walk-off homer for the win.

“Last time they threw their ace pitcher against us,” Maropis said. “And this time, the [playoff worries] are over. Now we’re just settling in, relaxing, and the kids are hitting the ball really well. The pressure’s off.”

Contact reporter Jason Fraley at fraleydbk@gmail.com.