Terrapin baseball coach Erik Bakich earned his first ejection and suspension for making contact with the umpire while arguing a balk call during last Saturday's 24-4 loss to Georgia Tech. Steven Overly/The Diamondback

On March 20, in the top of the fifth inning, Terrapin baseball coach Erik Bakich went out to argue with the umpire, and ended up making contact with the umpire’s chest, earning an automatic three-game suspension from the ACC. The Terps went on to lose the game 24-4 and then lost again on Sunday, 10-3, to lose the series.

Having sat out Sunday’s finale against the Yellow Jackets, Tuesday’s loss to James Madison, and Wednesday’s win against UMBC, Bakich will be back in the dugout this weekend when the Terps travel to Tallahassee, Fla. to square off with No. 6 Florida State.

But I don’t think I gave the ejection and subsequent suspension enough attention, and after giving Bakich a chance to add his two cents about the incident, my plan is to break this down into three sections.

It is important for those who did not actually see the game, that we set the scene, so the first part will be all of the important information that led to the argument.

Next we will break down the argument and ejection itself. The pictures are good, but this was at least a five minute ordeal, and frankly no photos could have captured just how animated Bakich was during his discussion with home plate umpire Scott Graham.

Finally we will discuss the aftermath of the event and give Bakich the floor as he explains the situation in his own words.

So follow me after the jump.

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Because Terrapin women’s basketball coach David Adkins graciously gave me enough material in my interview with him for today’s feature story on the man himself to start work on his biography, I feel I’d be remiss to not help fill out the margins on his profile. Here’s a quick bio blast:

Prized pupils: Adkins has helped mentor NBA players Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley and Linas Kleiza, as well as Greivis Vasquez and Georgetown’s Austin Freeman, who will be getting there shortly.

Long hours: “This is a 15-16 hour day job,” Adkins said. “You go to bed and you get back up and do it again.”

First job out of college: Adkins owned his own car detail shop. To no one’s surprise, he’s taken quite naturally to recruiting.

Adkins the professor: As a teacher at DeMatha, Adkins taught psychology.

Speaking of psychology: “Women are sensitive, but men are sensitive,” Adkins said. “I’m sensitive. Men tend to hide their emotions more than women. Women are more secure at times in being able to display their emotion. That’s an important characteristic.

“Boys have to have a persona. They’re expected to be tough and can’t cry. They’re expected to have a certain swagger. A lot of it is false.”

Summer plans: As the assistant coach for a Division 1 women’s basketball program, will Adkins now still have time to keep up with his individual workouts for NBA hopefuls? “Coach [Brenda] Frese and I have to visit that when the season is over,” he said. “Right now it’s something I’m passionate about. Kids respond to my workouts. It’s something I love doing.”

Finally, here’s some words of wisdom and classic basketball proverbs you’d expect to see written on a locker room wall somewhere:

• “A lot of people can dissect what’s wrong with your shot or what’s wrong with your footwork or your passing or dribbling, but special people get in the gym with you every day.”
• “You stay young by who you’re around.”
• “Your peers and your friends tell what you want to hear. What Coach Frese and the coaches and we do is tell you what you need to hear.”
• We’re just a spoke on the wheel. Everything that we’re doing now was done years ago.”

And now, my personal favorite:

• “Don’t call me when things are going great, because everybody is kissing your butt and being nice to you. Call me when you need a hug.”

Adkins and the Terps are battling Providence right now here at Comcast. Follow the game @jonas_shaffer and check in on Terrapin Trail for more good stuff.

Jonas Shaffer is The Diamondback’s women’s basketball beat writer. He can be reached at shaffer@umdbk.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/jonas_shaffer.

We’re about 20 minutes away from the opening draw between the No. 2 Terps (8-0, 3-0 ACC) and the No. 8 Stanford Cardinal (5-2) at the Field Hockey & Lacrosse Complex.

My preview for the game today focused mostly on the West Coast expansion of women’s lacrosse so I’ll use this space to give some information on Stanford. The Cardinal enters tonight’s match with its highest top 20 rank in the history of its program. After starting 1-2 with losses to Syracuse and Northwestern, Stanford reeled off four consecutive home victories to set up its game against the Terps.

But after defeating Vanderbilt on March 7, the Cardinal had two weeks off before. The layoff didn’t show against Cincinnati three days ago, though, as Stanford romped 19-4.

“They have a well-balanced offense,” coach Cathy Reese said.  “We need to be ready to support each other. We have to be sharp and mentally focused offensively.”

The Terps, meanwhile, are coming off their toughest test of the season against ACC-foe Boston College. The Eagles frustrated the Terps offense throughout the game, allowing a season-low seven goals. Boston College closed the gap to one with 1:45 remaining, but Reese’s team won the next draw and controlled possession.

Starting lineups are the same as usual with midfielder Katie Schwarzmann still in the starting lineup despite the return of defender Katie Gallgaher from a hamstring. Look back here and on my Twitter for game updates.

Chris Eckard is the Diamondback’s Terrapin women’s lacrosse beat reporter. He can be reached at ceckard@umdbk.com

The Terrapin men’s basketball season is over, but The Diamondback basketball folk are just firing up a series of season-in-review videos.

To be sure, the Terps’ stunning comeback and subsequent execution took quite a toll on the Maryland faithful. And yes, it might be time to move on — as difficult as that may be.

But first (!) we’ll is going to take one last look back at the last game of the season. And you’re going to watch.

Michael Katz is a senior staff writer and Internet expert for The Diamondback. He can be reached at mkibrickkatz(at)gmail(dot)com

After Terrapin ace Brett Harman held the potent Georgia Tech offense to just two runs over eight innings in Friday night’s 5-2 win, it wasn’t a matter of whether the Yellow Jackets offense would eventually show up but when?

Then on Saturday it seemed Georgia Tech’s offense might not come to play again, for one inning at least. Terps’ starter Adam Kolarek was chased in the fourth inning after allowing eight earned runs. After he left the Terps paraded out five different relievers, none of whom fared any better.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Terps’ left fielder Brandon Padula flew out to left field and after 3:47, the second game of the series had mercifully come to an end for the Terps.

The Yellow Jackets used tight strike zone and plate discipline to wait for their chances. The strategy worked to the tune of pounded out 20 hits , four home runs, and 24 runs in their 24-4 victory.

In the fifth inning, someone in the Georgia Tech dugout alerted the umpires that Terps’ freshman lefthander Jimmy Reed was pulling the ball out of his club, which by rule is a balk.

When Reed did it again, the umpire called him on it and set off an epic explosion from coach Erik Bakich who dodged the other umpires attempts to hold him back as he gave the umpire in the field a piece of his mind. In the middle of the ruckus, Bakich’s cap brushed the umpire’s face which earned him an automatic ejection and a mandatory three-game suspension.

As he exited the stadium Bakich turned to a member of the field’s facilities team and said, “Maybe that will get them fired up.”

Although Maryland (8-11, 2-4 ACC) blew its second straight ACC series in which they won the series opener, not everything was negative this weekend, and stealing a game from the No. 3 team in the country is always a plus.

Follow me after the jump for a great story from the weekend.

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