Maryland baseball left fielder Marty Costes is suspended for the series against Purdue after a violation of team rules, coach Rob Vaughn said after Friday’s 7-1 loss to the Boilermakers.
Costes was out of the starting lineup for only the third time this season in the series-opener. Vaughn said he and Costes had a productive conversation and that Costes will be back with the team Monday.
“We have some different rules in our program. Very simple stuff. But Marty didn’t meet some of the team rules that we had this week,” Vaughn said. “He’s a great kid that just didn’t live up to the standards that we uphold as a program.”
Vaughn said Costes’ previous absence against Ball State on March 4 and starting on the bench April 8 against Illinois were “completely different stuff.”
Costes entered the year a highly touted draft prospect but has struggled at the plate this season, hitting .227 compared to .322 in 2017. He launched his third home run of the season Tuesday against VCU after hitting 13 last campaign.
Still, the junior is a cornerstone in the Terps’ batting order that lacks many of the veteran bats it had last year. Left fielder Will Watson started in his place Friday and notched three hits.
“If he wasn’t a great kid, it would be a different situation,” Vaughn said. “But I’m confident that adversity is going to be thrown his way and he’s going to respond the way he needs to respond to it and he’s going to be really, really good because of it.
“I’m not even worried about on-field stuff. It’s just, with all these guys, man, I know we get judged all the time by our record and by all this, and I get that. But at the end of the day, we’re here to grow these guys as men, and that’s where I really expect Marty to continue growing, continue maturing.”
