May 18, 2011
Game Notes (PDF)
Season Stats (PDF)
LIKE! Maryland Athletics on Facebook
Wake Forest (22-28, 12-15) at Maryland (21-32, 5-22)
Probable Pitching Matchups
Thursday (7 p.m.): RHP Sander Beck (2-5, 5.77) vs. LHP Brian Holmes (3-3, 2.54)
Friday (7 p.m.): RHP David Carroll (5-4, 4.35) vs. LHP Tim Cooney (6-2, 2.61)
Saturday (1 p.m.): RHP Brady Kirkpatrick (2-4, 5.71) vs. LHP Austin Stadler (1-8, 9.32)
Storyline...
• After playing just one home game in the last 22 days, including an eight-day break from action for finals, Maryland returns to Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium on Thursday to play host to Wake Forest in the final series of the 2011 season. The Terps and Demon Deacons play at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 1 p.m. Saturday. Senior day festivities will be held prior to Saturday's game.
• In its most recent game, Maryland defeated Delaware 7-6 on May 10 to finish 16-10 in non-conference games this season, including a 12-4 mark at home. Junior right-hander Chuck Ghysels pitched six innings and recorded a career-high eight strikeouts while limiting Delaware to one run. Sophomore outfielder Jordan Hagel had three hits and three stolen bases, as the Terps racked up a season-high eight stolen bags.
• Freshman first baseman Tim Kiene, who enters the weekend on an eight-game hitting streak, has continued his upward progression at the plate. Over the last 27 games Kiene is hitting .373, raising his season batting average 152 points (from .118 to .270) over that span. Kiene's .351 batting average in ACC play would rank 11th overall and third among freshmen in the league, but he is four plate appearances shy of qualifying.
• Leadoff batter Charlie White, another freshman, paces the Terps in hitting (.300) and ranks second on the team with 17 stolen bases on 18 attempts. He had a 10-game hitting streak, which matches the longest this season by a Terp (also Alfredo Rodriguez), snapped on May 8 at North Carolina. Junior center fielder Korey Wacker has been hot at the plate recently, recording multiple hits in eight of the last 13 games. Freshman catcher/DH Alex Ramsay has been as well, hitting .370 over the last 13 games.
Follow the Terps
• Audio of all three games will be streamed live on the Internet at WMUCSports.com. Live stats will be available at umterps.com. Follow the Terps on Twitter at twitter.com/umterps.
About the Demon Deacons...
• Wake Forest is 22-28 overall with a 12-15 mark in the ACC, having won five of their past six league games. The Demon Deacons swept Boston College at home May 6-8 and took two of three at Duke last weekend. They need two wins over Maryland to clinch one of the eight spots in the ACC Tournament to be played next week.
• Wake ranks 12th in the league in team batting (.226) and ninth in team pitching (4.66 ERA). The Deacons have hit 46 home runs, which is the third-most by any league team (Virginia Tech - 58, Florida State - 48), and they have stolen 88 bases, which is tied for third with Miami (Clemson - 94, Maryland - 92).
• Junior designated hitter Carlos Lopez ranks second in the ACC with 11 home runs, while his .276 batting average is second-best on the team. Sophomore left fielder Mac Williamson leads the team in hitting (.278) and RBI (45) and has nine homers. Senior center fielder Steven Brooks is second in the league with 26 stolen bases.
• Wake Forest's starting rotation is made up entirely of lefties; sophomore Brian Holmes (3-3, 2.54) gets the ball Thursday, sophomore Tim Cooney (6-2, 2.61) will go Friday, and junior Austin Stadler (1-8, 9.32) starts Saturday. Holmes and Cooney both rank in the top 10 in ERA in the ACC, while Cooney's 77 stikeouts are just outside the top 10.
SERIES HISTORY: Wake Forest leads the all-time series, 93-56-1. The Terps won game one of the series before the Demon Deacons took games two and three last season in Winston Salem. Maryland swept the series the last time it was played in College Park (May 8-10, 2009).
About The Starting Pitching...
• Maryland's weekend rotation has fluctuated this season, with junior RHP David Carroll the only pitcher to start every weekend. For the first seven weekend series this season, Carroll started on Saturday; he moved up to Friday the next four weekends, then returned to his Saturday role in the May 6-8 series against North Carolina. In his Saturday starts Carroll has a 5-1 record with a 2.42 ERA; on Friday he is 0-3 with a 10.31 ERA.
• For the second consecutive week junior RHP Sander Beck will start game one of the series and freshman RHP Brady Kirkpatrick will start game three. Beck is the second most experience pitcher on the team with 43 appearances and 27 starts in his career (Eric Potter has 67 app. & 35 starts), and he ranks third on the team this season with 55 strikeouts. Kirkpatrick, who spent much of the season as a reliever, is in the weekend rotation for the fifth straight week.
Immediate Impact...
• Maryland has 22 newcomers on the 2011 squad, including 13 freshmen and nine junior-college transfers; 20 have made their Maryland debuts, with several playing key roles. Among positional players (including DH), newcomers account for 350 of 477 starts (73 percent). Newcomers have also accounted for 265 1/3 of 466 total innings pitched (57 percent).
• Breaking it down further, freshmen have combined to make 198 of 477 starts (42 percent), while contributing 183 of Maryland's 434 hits (42 percent). With the JUCO transfers included, newcomers account for 319 of 434 hits (73 percent), an equal distribution to the percentage of starts they have.
• The numbers are similar with runs and RBI. Newcomers account for 160 of 211 RBI (76 percent), with freshmen totaling 92 RBI (44 percent). Of 238 runs scored, newcomers have 178 of them (75 percent), while freshmen have 108 (46 percent).
Aggressive On The Base Paths...
• With 123 stolen bases last season, Maryland demolished the previous school record of 95 set in 1998. The Terps have been aggressive again this year, ranking second in the ACC with 92 stolen bags. Alfredo Rodriguez leads the way with 20, which is tied for fourth in the conference.
Ninth-Inning Comeback...
• Maryland scored five runs in the top of the ninth inning to overcome a 10-8 deficit on the way to a 13-11 win over NC State on 4/29. Aaron Etchison, Tim Kiene, Jake Stinnett and Jordan Hagel all had RBI singles in the rally, with Hagel's two-run base hit capping it off. It was the Terrapins' first win when trailing after eight innings since 2/27/09, an 11-10 win over Quinnipiac. The last time Maryland came back in the ninth to win an ACC game was 4/19/08, a 14-13 win over Georgia Tech.
Pitching Keys Mid-Week Wins...
• Maryland pitching held both Saint Joseph's (4/26) and George Mason (4/27) to just three hits. It marked the first time Maryland held its opponent to three hits or less in back-to-back outings since March 5, 2002, when the Terps held UMES to two hits, then three hits in a doubleheader. In the win over Saint Joseph's, Charlie Haslup, Jeff Crosswhite, Jimmy Reed and Jake Stinnett combined for 11 strikeouts and kept the Hawks hitless over the final six innings. Against George Mason Chuck Ghysels allowed two hits in seven innings, while Michael Boyden and Korey Wacker pitched an inning each to finish it out.
