With 22 newcomers to the Terrapin baseball team this season, coach Erik Bakich’s constant experimentation with his lineup before the start of ACC play has hardly come as a surprise.

The Terps (5-3) have trotted out a different lineup in every game this season in hopes of finding the best possible combination. While shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez, center fielder Korey Wacker and first baseman Tomo Delp have been mainstays atop the team’s batting order, the middle of the lineup has varied greatly.

“We’re kind of juggling some lineups as well to kind of figure out what the best lineup is for us, what the best nine guys are, if there’s going to be some guys platooning or what the deal is,” Bakich said. “But once we get through, we’re trying different guys at different spots offensively. We’re jumbling some things up to see who can do what in certain spots. And once we get going into ACC play, I think you’re going to see more consistency with our lineup.”

Though Rodriguez and Wacker have struggled at the plate early in the season, hitting .185 and .258, respectively, Bakich understands their importance to the lineup as table setters. Rather than bench them, Bakich said he will continue to play both despite their struggles.

“Some guys just are off to a slow start,” Bakich said. “I think Alfredo Rodriguez and Korey Wacker are going to be two of our better offensive players by the end of the year. But statistically, they don’t reflect that right now. But they will because they’re good players, and both those guys led our team in the fall in hitting.”

While Bakich doesn’t predict changes at the top of the lineup, the middle of the order is a different story. Highly regarded freshman Tim Kiene started at designated hitter in the clean-up spot for four of the season’s first five games before a paltry .056 batting average through 18 at-bats consigned him to limited action against Army.

But even as Kiene, who Bakich believes will become a “star,” and the offense in general struggle, the second-year coach thinks it’s just a matter of time before things start turning around for them at the plate.

“The offense will come; it always does,” Bakich said. “It seems like how college baseball is, the offense kind of, when you play quality teams, it seems like the statistics offensively don’t reflect the strength of your club, some weekends the offense isn’t quite as apparent. Luckily, I did enough to where we were able to score enough, score more than they did.”

“We’re feeling a lot more comfortable up there,” Delp said. “Getting more confidence. We just need more at-bats, more innings.”

MOUND DOMINANCE

While the hitting hasn’t rounded into form yet, the Terps have been exceptional in the field and on the mound. Bakich was encouraged that starting pitchers David Carroll, Sander Beck and Eric Potter all followed solid starts at Texas in the season’s opening weekend with dominant showings against Army.

“The key to it was the pitching and defense,” Bakich said “And as I told the guys on the team, offense will win you games, [but] pitching and defense wins championships.”

As their starting pitching success continued, the Terps’ bullpen bounced back from a rough weekend at Texas. After giving up a combined 21 runs to the Longhorns, Terp relievers allowed only one score against Army this weekend.

“In the last two days, I thought we did a great job setting the tone with good starting pitching and finishing it up there, with Mike Boyden yesterday and Chuck Ghysels today dissolving any threats that they might have had,” Bakich said Sunday. “It’s good to see, start to determine some guys in the back end of the bullpen, it’s good to see Mike Boyden come in … and it’s good to see Chuck Ghysels close it off. [We’re] starting to figure out who can pitch in some very tight situations.”

SYNERGY

Some teams turn to rally caps in hopes of sparking a rally. The Terps, meanwhile, have … synergy?

At one point in the late innings of Friday’s 13-inning walk-off victory against Army, nearly the entire Terp team stood up in the dugout. Then players started moving side to side in unison, clenching and rotating their arms in small circles.

“Ah, synergy,” Ghysels said. “Synergy. Most teams, they all will say, ‘One for all, all for one.’ But we really are. We take it to whatever extreme. We will do whatever it takes. Spur of the moment — I don’t know, what the hell.”

Some players explained the bizarre motion was their way of combating the near-freezing temperatures, while others said it was to help the batter at the plate. A few had no idea what was going on.

“I really don’t know how that started,” Potter said. “A couple guys just started yelling ‘synergy,’ and then we started doing well. And we all started doing it.”

“It’s everybody’s energy coming into one, giving it to the batter,” Delp said. “I don’t know, group of creepy guys, group of crazy guys.”

Bakich said he didn’t know what was going on. But he wasn’t asking his players for an explanation, either.

“I have no idea what they’re doing, and I probably don’t want to know,” Bakich said. “They’ve got some antics in the dugout. If it helps them and it’s within the rules, then I’m fine. Whatever helps them, and whatever helps the ball club. We’ll leave it at that.”

schneider@umdbk.com