Last week, there was no hiding the fact that the Terrapin baseball team’s offense deserved the lion’s share of the blame for the Terps’ six-game losing streak.
Which is why a Wednesday night game against one of the nation’s worst pitching staffs proved to be just what the Terps needed. And to ensure the Terps would get the opportunities to score runs, coach Erik Bakich used the only tool he had at his disposal — the steal sign.
Led by shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez and first baseman Dan Gentzler, the Terps’ offense used not only 15 hits, but a school-best 10 stolen bases to score double digit runs in a game for the first time since March 12 against Virginia Tech.
“It’s a lot of fun when we are able to get on base frequently and get the opportunity to steal bases,” said Gentzler, who paced the Terps with three hits and also three stolen bases. “[Bakich] just gives us the chances to steal it is our job to make sure we don’t get thrown out. It’s exciting.”
The Terps received contributions from all over the lineup as they scored in every inning but two. Rodriguez led the team, going 4-5 including a home run as the first batter of the game. Gentzler and catcher Jack Cleary each had three hits and second baseman David Poutier had two hits and the team’s first triple this season.
In what has been a constant struggle offensively this season, there are really only three regular starters the Terps have been able to count on at the plate — Rodriguez, left fielder Brandon Padula, and center fielder Matt Marquis.
So for those three players to get help from some of the other members of the team is important if the Terps hope to reverse their season and keep their goal of making the ACC Tournament alive.
“That’s exactly what we need to do, some of the guys who didn’t play well in the first half of the season are gonna need to step up,” Bakich said. “For us to start firing on all cylinders offensively we will need to have our entire lineup start start to have quality at-bats. That’s what will help us improve and win games.”
Bakich said all the team needed from starter Blair Delean was for the inconsistent senior to get the Terps’ into the fifth inning, which is what he did. Only he didn’t make it out.
Delean cruised through the first four innings before Bakich said he hit a wall.
Delean sandwiched a ground-out in between a hit batsman and three straight walks that allowed the Retrievers to get on the scoreboard. Lefthander Matt Fullerton replaced Delean and immediately an RBI walk, an RBI groundout, and a two-run triple in succession.
With two outs in the fifth inning, still leading 7-5, Bakich turned to little-used Matt Passauer who failed to get any of the three batters he faced out. Finally Ian Schwalenberg, the Terps’ fourth pitcher in the inning, got second baseman Aaron Brill to ground out to shortstop.
“It sounds weird but I was kinda glad that the crap hit the fan,” Bakich said. “Crap is always going to hit the fan, that’s how baseball works, but we have talked about making sure we stay calm and minimize our mistakes, even when things look shaky. I thought we did that well tonight. We didn’t panic and we able to settle things down and win.”
Mike Lemaire is the Terrapin baseball beat writer. He can be reached at lemairedbk@gmail.com.