It’s late on a Tuesday night and you know what that means…Note Dump!

I am hoping to make this notebook a regular deal throughout the year. As you will soon find out, it looks like new coach Erik Bakich is already making noise on the recruiting trail for 2011. He has also been giving a rash of interviews over the past few weeks, including this one with Rivals that actually unearthed an interesting nugget about new facilities.

Bakich has been tough to track down recently, but he and his wife did give birth to their first son, Colt, recently so I will give him a pass this week.

Read on for my take on the new facilities, committed recruits for 2011, and news about recently-departed Mike Murphy, who plans to return to Shipley Field in a different role next year.

Upgrading the program

Here is what Bakich told Rivals about revamping the facilities for the program:

Bakich announced the Terrapins are building a new indoor hitting and pitching complex, constructing new locker rooms and also building a new outfield fence, which sits up against Maryland’s football practice fields.

This is exactly the type of thing that could propel this program in the very near future. It’s no secret that Maryland’s facilities pale in comparison to their counterparts in places like Chapel Hill or Tallahassee, and this would be a big step towards keeping up with the Jones’.

It would have been a little more exciting if Bakich had given a time-table for these upgrades. It seems like these would be further down the road, I will make sure to ask Bakich when I catch him.

Also, Bakich recently told me that the program was adding a new director of operations position. Bakich told me via text there would be a press release tomorrow about who will be taking this role. Obviously there will be more to follow.

Recruiting Notes

So far, the Terps 2011 recruiting class has four publicized commits. They are as follows:

C/1B Alex Ramsey- Severna Park, Md.

C Patrick Leyland- Pittsburgh, Pa.

OF Charlie White- Napersville, Ill.

Mike Montville- Portsmouth, N.H.

Here are the highlights I pulled out for your reading and future-knowing pleasure:

Alex Ramsey

-He did hit .362 with seven home runs and 22 RBI, but high school statistics should always come with a disclaimer about competition-level.

-Was selected for and will play in this Sunday’s Under Armour All-American Game at Wrigley Field. The team is actually littered with recent MLB top draftees and although he probably won’t get a ton of at-bats, it will be interesting to see how he fares against the best the rest of the nation has to offer.

Patrick Leyland

-Without a doubt the most notable thing about him is that he is the son of current Detroit Tigers legendary coach Jim Leyland. I only wish I would still be here in 2011 for the chance to see the elder Leyland in the stands and get the chance to ask him a few questions.

-Through 21 games, Leyland, a catcher, is hitting .333 (23 for 69) with 6 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers and 23 RBIs. He has struck out only eight times.

That is what this recent article gave as Leyland’s summer league stats as recently as the end of July. Again, please refer to the aforementioned disclaimer.

Charlie White

-White hit .479 with five home runs, 39 RBI, 36 runs scored and 14 stolen bases as a junior. On the mound, the lefty finished 5-2 with a 2.72 ERA.

That is what his link above lists as his statistics.

-White will be the first Terp on the roster whose hometown is west of the Mississippi. A good early sign for Bakich living up to his hope to recruit nationally.

-That’s it.

Mike Montville

- Here is a good article about Montville. That tidy .560 batting average and his 10 home runs and 37 RBI were good enough to make him New Hampshire’s Gatorade Player of the Year.

-Montville will represent the first player on the Terps’ roster north of Pennsylvania. Refer to above mention about “national recruiting”.

-Here is the best part of the above article:

He was impressed with the facilities at Maryland — a new batting cage and locker room for the baseball team. And there was one fixture on the College Park campus that pretty much sealed the deal.

“They have a Chick-fil-A in one of the dining halls,” Montville said. “I love the chicken sandwich there.”

I could not agree with you more Mike…could not agree with you more.

Murphy will be back

This is just a short note with a lot more to follow, but former Terp star Mike Murphy will be wearing a Terps’ uniform again…but as a coach. According to both Murphy and Associate Athletic Director/Baseball Supervisor Dan Trump told me that Murphy, who will be back on campus for graduate school, will be the student assistant next season.

Murphy isn’t getting paid for his work, but he did tell me he was getting his schooling paid for…which is always nice. I wanted to talk to him in-depth but haven’t caught him yet. I hope to have that up tomorrow

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 12th, 2009 at 1:08 am and is filed under Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.