Believe it. Even with a series this weekend against No. 21 North Carolina State, tonight’s game against in-state rival Towson is apparently very important to coach Terry Rupp and the Terps.
How do we know that? Because Rupp decided to start staff-ace Scott Swinson, who has been pitching in Friday night ACC games against the other team’s ace pitcher all season long.
Rupp’s official reasoning for starting Swinson against a non-conference team like Towson midweek was “his turn is up.” Hard for me to believe that’s the real reason though.
I think the real reason is that Rupp really wants to win this game, maybe more than he wants to win Friday’s game against the Wolfpack, and who can blame him:
- The Terps are unlikely to make the ACC tournament, even with wins over N.C. State this weekend
- The Terps don’t want to lose their third and final game of the year to Towson
- Rupp mentioned on Monday how he’s been hearing a lot of his players, especially seniors, talk about how the Terps can’t lose to Towson for a third time. A lot of the Terps players have played with and against Towson players throughout high school and various summer leagues. There are bragging rights at stake.
So while tonight’s game might seem like just another nonconference tune-up for weekend ACC play, it actually means much more.
Rupp validated that by throwing his ace out there tonight. We’ll see how it works out.
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