The Maryland baseball team is the No. 3 seed in the Winston-Salem Regional and will face West Virginia on Friday afternoon in its first NCAA tournament contest, according to the bracket released Monday.
Wake Forest and UMBC are the other two teams in the Terps’ regional.
It marks the third time in four seasons the Terps have played in the NCAA tournament under coach John Szefc.
“I think our guys put us in the best position we can possibly be in at this point for having struggled over the last 40 percent of the season,” Szefc said Sunday. “I feel good about it.”
After winning three games in this weekend’s Big Ten tournament but falling short in the semifinals against Northwestern, the Terps now have 37 victories. Maryland, which lost its last four series in advance of the conference tournament, went 15-9 in Big Ten play.
As of Monday afternoon, the Terps were ranked No. 34 in RPI. Maryland’s strength of schedule ranked 76th. Szefc said Sunday that the selection committee takes teams’ last 10 games into account; the Terps went 4-6 over that span.
Maryland has already faced two of the teams in its bracket. The Terps defeated West Virginia, 7-6, in a midweek matchup at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium on April 11, scoring five runs in the seventh in the come-from-behind victory.
The Terps also topped UMBC, the No. 4 seed in the regional, in College Park on May 9.
Maryland last played in a regional in 2015, when it topped Ole Miss and UCLA to advance to the NCAA Super Regionals.
“It says a lot about the coaching staff,” right-hander Ryan Selmer said Sunday. “It’s the guys they’re recruiting to come here. Everyone has a good attitude. Everyone’s about the team. The coaching staff and players, we’re all in it together.”
