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Maryland at #14 UCLA

Pitching Matchups (all times Eastern)
Friday (9 p.m.): RHP Brady Kirkpatrick (2-5, 5.71) vs. RHP Adam Plutko (7-4, 2.01)
Saturday (2 p.m.): RHP David Carroll (5-5, 4.70) vs. RHP Nick Vander Tuig (3-4, 2.90)
Sunday (10 a.m.): RHP Brett Harman (5-8, 4.50)* vs. RHP Zack Weiss (5-3, 2.86) * - 2010 stats

Leading Off
• Maryland gets the 2012 season underway this weekend with a three-game set at 14th-ranked UCLA. The Terps are opening the year on the road against a top-15 opponent for the second consective season, after traveling to Texas for a four-game set to open the 2011 season.

• The Terps return all eight positional starters from last season, eight of the top 11 pitchers in terms of ERA, and welcom a talented 2011 recruiting class that received accolades from a number of publications. Among those returning on offense are sophomore OF Charlie White, who led the team in hitting as a freshman; sophomore 1B Tim Kiene, who hit .352 in ACC games last year, which ranked sixth in the league; and senior 2B/DH Ryan Holland, who led the Terps with 30 RBIs and ranked second on the team with a .282 batting average.

• Alfredo Rodriguez highlights a group of nine seniors on the 2012 squad. Rodriguez has started the last 121 games at shortstop and enters the year with 46 career stolen bases, 16 shy of tying the school-record 62 set by Larry Long (1997-00). He is one of five players on this year's roster that have been selected in the MLB Draft (see p. 3).

• Maryland has depth and experience on the mound this season, with four seniors among the five players expected to serve in starting roles. Sophomore Brady Kirkpatrick, the Friday-night starter, is the lone underclassmen. David Carroll is expected to start on Saturday and Brett Harman will get the ball on Sunday. Sander Beck and Michael Boyden are the other two seniors in the five-man starting rotation. Senior Korey Wacker, juniors Jimmy Reed and Charlie Haslup, and sophomore Jake Stinnett are expected to receive the majority of innings in relief.

Follow the Terps
• www.UCLABruins.com will provide a radio broadcast of all three games, free of charge. Live stats will be available for all three games via Gametracker, and a live, interactive blog for Friday and Saturday's games will be on www.umterps.com.

About the Bruins...
• UCLA returns the majority of its positional starters from last season's team, which won the Pac-12 Championship and hosted a NCAA Regional. The Bruins finished the year with a 35-24 record and have won 86 games over the past two seasons, reaching the College World Series Finals in 2010.

• Junior outfielder Cody Keefer and junior third baseman Cody Regis are among UCLA's top returning offensive threats. Keefer was second on the team last year with a .303 batting average and had a team-best .408 on-base percentage. Regis, meanwhile, batted .284 with six home runs, 45 RBIs and 20 runs.

• On the mound, the Bruins will be without their Friday and Saturday starters from a year ago. Right-handers Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer were selected No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, in the first round of the 2011 MLB Draft. Still, UCLA has a trio of talented sophomores in Adam Plutko, Nick Vander Tuig and Zack Weiss. Plutko earned All-Pac-10 honors as a freshman, when he went 7-4 with a 2.01 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 107.2 innings. Vander Tuig made all 28 of his appearances in relief last season, making nine saves and accumulating a 2.90 ERA. Weiss, like Plutko, has starting experience. Nine of his 22 appearances as a freshman were starts in the midweek, and the 6-foot-3 righty had a 5-3 record with a 2.86 ERA, holding opponents to a .191 batting average.

• UCLA is coached by John Savage, now in his eighth season at the school. He has led the Bruins to the postseason in five of the last six seasons and has a 227-191 record at UCLA.

SERIES HISTORY: This will mark the first-ever meetings between Maryland and UCLA.