Injury news is trickling out of the baseball weekend that sophomore reserve first baseman and designated hitter Curtis Lazar will be out indefinitely with a sprained ankle. Lazar did not dress for any of the three games in North Carolina and was in street clothes and a walking boot for today’s contest with James Madison.

Lazar, who injured the ankle while dropping down to field a hard hit groundball last Wednesday against George Mason, is the third Terp to be lost for an extended period of time. Sophomore right-hander Matt Quinn was shut down earlier in the year with lingering elbow concerns, and freshman outfielder/pitcher Taylor Buran was lost for the season about a month ago when he came down with mononucleosis.

Regardless of whether Lazar returns this season or packs it in for the rest of season, his loss will not have a profound impact on the team’s play outside of depth at first base. This season, Lazar has played in 28 games, starting 16 of them, up from 18 games played and five starts in 2008.

After hitting .391 with a home run and seven RBI in 33 at-bats in 2008, the Terps had hoped for big things at the plate from the rangy lefty, but Lazar has really struggled against the better teams and his lack of consistent playing time hasn’t helped either. In 60 at-bats so far this season Lazar is hitting just .217/.329/.267 and has only managed three extra-base hits.

lemairedbk@gmail.com

Checking in from Robert E. Taylor Stadium here for the Terrapin softball team’s doubleheader against George Washington.

The Terps didn’t score one earned run against the Colonials in game one, but they didn’t need to. Aided by five errors, they scored two runs. Pitcher Sarah Dooley – who’s set to take the mound for game two, as well – kept the Colonials off the scoreboard, and the Terps got the 2-0 win.

It was a comedy of errors for the Colonials, but the most entertaining bit might have come as we all waited for the second game to kick off.

Second baseman Breanna Shaw,  who’s supposedly on the mend from a shot to the chops suffered in a game last week against Penn State, showed off her dance moves atop the Terps dugout to this spring’s pop hit, “Single Ladies” by Beyonce.

If she showed anything, it’s that she still knows how to please the crowd – even when she’s not actually playing.

Clearly the Oakland Raiders head coach saw something special in Darrius Heyward-Bey to use the No. 7 overall pick on him, but some of his quotes in this AP story show his infatuation is on a whole ‘nother level.

These two paragraphs stand out:

“Cable compared Heyward-Bey to Randy Moss, one of the most dynamic receivers in the game but one who struggled in his two seasons in Oakland. He said he was attracted by Heyward Bey’s experience in a pro-style offense, calling him the best route-runner of the three top receivers and downplaying his inferior college numbers.”

“‘If you put the spread system at this level, it doesn’t really exist,’ Cable said. ‘Those numbers would be dramatically different. I think the one great comparison that I did that really showed this was the right guy for me, if I put him in that same system, he might have been over 50 touchdowns. He’s that talented.’”

Whether or not Darrius lives up to that hype, Cable’s evaluation is an interesting critique of the Terps’ offensive system.

If the Terps had a player who was “that talented,” why were they unable to get so much more out of him than they did?

Heyward-Bey had some big games here, but he largely disappeared in several others. It kind of gives you the feeling Ralph Friedgen and James Franklin wasted him a little bit.

It’s possible Tom Cable and the Raiders are just seriously overestimating what Heyward-Bey can do on a football field because of his combine performance.

But if Heyward-Bey becomes a star in Oakland, it will force you to think about what could have been in College Park.

schimmeldbk@gmail.com

By now, everyone knows Darrius Heyward-Bey was selected with the seventh overall pick by the Oakland Raiders. The choice was controversial, as most pundits ranked Heyward-Bey as no higher than the third best receiver, yet he was the first off the board yesterday.

My belief is, this was a pretty major reach from the Raiders.

Heyward-Bey has the potential to be a top flight deep threat. But his time at Maryland showed mediocre route running and hands, two keys for any No. 1 receiver at the NFL level.

Heyward-Bey was picked ahead of numerous proven receivers with much better overall abilities. Meanwhile, he probably wasn’t even the most polished ACC receiver in the class – that honor belongs to North Carolina’s Hakeem Nicks.

Heyward-Bey scored a total of six touchdowns last season for Maryland. He caught just 42 passes and dropped quite a few.

The situation is reminscent of Vernon Davis, another freakish Terp product who never really played to his potential in College Park but tested off the charts at the NFL Scouting Combine.

Davis, taken sixth overall in 2006 by San Francisco, is still struggling to make his presence felt in the league, though it has largely been the result of horrendous quarterbacking for the 49ers and a slew of injuries.

Still, this is a perfect example of a team looking too hard a measurables and not hard enough at production on the field. It will be interesting to watch Heyward-Bey immediately. He’s probably going to take a few years to develop, though.

ajosephdbk@gmail.com