It’s the bottom of the second inning here at Shipley Field and the Terps are already up 4-0 on Coppin State. The Terps knew coming in that Coppin State wasn’t exactly going to present the level of competition they’ll face when they travel to Tallahassee this weekend to play Florida State. In fact, the Eagles have already dropped two fly balls and botched a double play, but the Terps seemed genuinely focused, even concerned when I spoke to them for the game preview yesterday.
As expected coach Terry Rupp has once again switched the defensive infield alignment, trying to curb a disturbing number of infield errors through the Terps first eight games. Junior-college transfer Jensen Pupa was moved to second, junior Mike Murphy back to his normal third and regular catcher Chad Durakis to first base. It’s safe to say we won’t know how Rupp’s change works out until after Florida State this weekend.
Rupp decided to tag-team the pitching effort today, senior Mike Sufczynski pitched the first but freshman Eric Potter came out for the second.
Coppin State’s troubles are well-known in baseball circles. They went 0-44 last season, including a 27-0 and a 12-0 loss to the Terps, and are on a similar pace this year with a record of 0-8. Barring a collapse of Terrence Oglesby proportions the Terps are going to cruise to their fifth win of the year today. As I typed this they scored another run to go up 5-0. Should be interesting to see how the team comes out against FSU Friday night.