OMAHA, Neb. – The sixth-seeded Maryland baseball team opens postseason play with third-seeded Indiana in the opening round of the Big Ten Tournament at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha Wednesday morning. First pitch is scheduled for 10 a.m. ET and can be watched live on BTN or listened to live on the Maryland Baseball Network.
Setting the stage
Wednesday, May 25, 2016 - 10 a.m.
RHP Mike Shawaryn (5-4, 3.30 ERA) vs. RHP Kyle Hart (10-3, 3.09 ERA)
Location: Omaha, Neb.
Stadium: TD Ameritrade Park
TV/Stream: BTN
Radio: Maryland Baseball Network
Live Stats: Statbroadcast
Twitter: @TerpsBaseball
• Maryland earned the No. 6 seed in the Big Ten Tournament after taking 2-of-3 over Michigan State in East Lansing over the weekend. Maryland finished the regular season with a 13-11 record in the Big Ten and 28-25 overall.
• In their first Big Ten Tournament last season, the Terrapins advanced to the final before falling to Michigan, 4-3. Sophomore Kevin Smith earned All-Tournament honors while junior Mike Shawaryn and sophomore Brian Shaffer earned wins in the tournament. Maryland returned nine players that appeared in the championship game, but just five starters.
• Maryland is one of just six teams nationally to make back-to-back Super Regional appearances. The Terrapins upended top overall seed UCLA to win the Los Angeles Regional last season before falling in the next round to eventual national champion Virginia.
• Maryland head coach John Szefc has accumulated 140 victories in his first four seasons at the helm. That total is the most in a four-year span in program history. Szefc is the only skipper in school history to win an NCAA Regional and notch back-to-back 40-win seasons. The Terps are 12-8 in postseason games under Szefc and have reached the final in their last two conference tournament appearances (2015, B1G/2014, ACC)
• Junior Mike Shawaryn has established himself as one of the top pitchers in school history. He holds school records for single season strikeouts (138), single season wins (13), career wins (29) and career strikeouts (291). With 0.2 IP, Shawaryn will break Chris Clem's (2002-2005) Maryland career innings pitched record (298.2). Shawaryn can become the first pitcher in school history with 300 Ks and 300 IP.
• Maryland starters Taylor Bloom and Brian Shaffer have thrown a combined seven complete games this season. Bloom's 95.0 IP is the fourth most in a single season in Maryland history, and he needs just 0.2 IP to move into third. Shaffer has tossed 94.2 IP, fifth all-time in a single season in Maryland history. Both pitchers have more combined starts (27) than walks (22).
• Maryland has seen contributions from young players throughout the year, including freshmen Nick Dunn and Marty Costes. Dunn leads Maryland in average at .302 and has earned Big Ten Player and Freshman of the Week honors this season. Costes leads all Big Ten freshman in home runs (8) and has earned conference Freshman of the Week honors twice. Freshman RHP Hunter Parsons also earned Freshman of the Week honors this season.
Getting iT dunn
• Freshman Nick Dunn has been a solid contributer in his debut campaign. He leads all Big Ten freshman in runs scored (39) and doubles (15).
• Dunn has two four-hit games this season, including in Maryland Big Ten Tournament bid clinching win against Michigan State on May 21.
• Dunn has 13 multi-hit games, tied for the team high, and reached base in the first 20 games of the season. Dunn has Maryland's longest hitting streak of the season (13) and has 28 RBIs.
• Dunn earned Big Ten Player and Freshman of the Week honors after slashing .642/.700/.786 with nine hits, four RBIs and four runs scored. He is Maryland's first player to ever win two Big Ten weekly honors in the same week. He is the first double player/freshman of the week since Kyle Johnson accomplished the feat for Purdue in 2013.
#THeUNICORN
• Junior RHP Mike Shawaryn earned Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors on Feb. 29 after tossing eight innings of one hit ball against Rhode Island. He struck out five batters and retired 22-of-24 Rams faced.
• Shawaryn tossed seven innings of six hit, one run ball with nine strikeouts in Maryland's opening round win in the B1G Tournament over Michigan State last season.
• With a strikeout in the third inning against Penn State, Shawaryn broke the Maryland all-time strikeout record and now holds the mark with a total of 291.
• The junior tossed the first complete game of his career in that Penn State contest. He followed that up with a complete game against Michigan State on May 19.
• Shawaryn has 81 strikeouts, the sixth-best mark in the Big Ten, and is holding opponents to a .201 average, the third-best number in the Big Ten. Shawaryn has thrown 81.0 IP, good enough for seventh in the conference.
• Shawaryn tied his season high with 10 strikeouts in a win over Purdue on April 23.
• Shawaryn has 29 career wins, the most in Maryland history and tops among juniors in the nation.
• Shawaryn put together the best season by a pitcher in Maryland history in 2015, racking up a program record 13 wins and 138 strikeouts. Shawaryn recorded a 1.71 ERA and held opposing hitters to a .202 average.
• Shawaryn was named a preseason first-team All-American in most major outlets. He was named the preseason Big Ten Pitcher of the Year by Perfect Game and D1Baseball.com.
After pitching for USA Baseball this summer, Shawaryn was named to the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List. Sponsored by Major League Baseball and USA Baseball, the award is presented to the top amateur baseball player in the country.
• He was named a first-team All-American by the NCBWA, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and Perfect Game in 2015. Shawaryn was the first Maryland player to be named a first-team All-American since 2002, when John McCurdy was a NCBWA first teamer.
• Shawaryn became the second student-athlete in Maryland baseball history to don the Stars and Stripes since 1979 when he joined the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team over the summer. Shawaryn recorded 10.1 IP for the national team.
• He was named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week on four occasions last season.
• Shawaryn was a freshman All-American in 2014 where he set the program record for wins in a season with 11.
BIONDIC FINDS A GROOVE
• Sophomore Kevin Biondic has had a breakout sophomore season for Maryland, leading the team in on-base percentage (.402) and sitting second in average (.300).
• Biondic has hit five home runs and leads the team with six three-hit games.
• Biondic started all four games of Maryland's Big Ten Tournament run last season, notching two hits and a run scored.
weekend potential
• Maryland features a pair of talented young arms that have emerged as weekend options in sophomores Taylor Bloom and Brian Shaffer. The duo has more combined starts (27) than walks (22).
• A native of Crofton, Md., Bloom has thrown five complete games, the most in the Big Ten and tied for 8th in the country. His 95.0 IP is third in the Big Ten and the fourth-most in a single season in Maryland history.
• Bloom ranks first in the Big Ten in walks per nine innings (0.85), a mark that is sixth in the country. He is second in strikeout to walk ratio (6.22), a mark that ranks 22nd in the nation. His 2.46 ERA is sixth in the Big Ten.
• Bloom earned Los Angeles Regional All-Tournament honors last year after throwing 6.1 IP with just one run and one hit allowedin the regional decider against No. 1 UCLA. Bloom needed just 58 pitches in that effort.
• Shaffer has emerged as a solid option in the Terps' rotation, holding a 2.85 ERA, the 14th-best mark in the conference, in 94.2 IP, the fourth-best mark in the Big Ten. That total is the fifth best in a single season in Maryland history.
• Shaffer's seven wins this season is t-10 in school history.
• Shaffer's opposing batting average of .220 is the seventh-best in the Big Ten and his 67 strikeouts ranks tied for 11th. He leads the Big Ten in WHIP at 0.94, which is the 17th best mark in the nation. .
• Shaffer recorded the best start of his career at Cal State Fullerton and earned Big Ten Co-Pitcher of the Week honors after tossing a complete game, 99-pitch shutout to beat the Titans. Shaffer struck out five and did not walk a batter.
• Shaffer started 11 games last season as a true freshman, going 5-1 with a 4.57 ERA. His biggest start of the season came in the Big Ten Tournament against Illinois. Shaffer tossed seven innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts to help the Terps end the Illini's 27-game winning streak.
SENSATIONAL SMITH
• Sophomore Kevin Smith had a spectacular debut campaign in College Park en route to being named a freshman All-American by D1Baseball.com and Perfect Game. He is the Terps' third freshman All-American in the last two season with Mike Shawaryn and Brandon Lowe earning plaudits in 2014.
• Smith had a reached base streak of 18 games, which was the second longest on the team. Smith has nine doubles, second on the team, and eight home runs which is tied for the best mark on the team and tied for sixth in the conference.
• Smith is third in the conference with nine sacrifice bunts.
• Smith was named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List, given to the nation's best shortstop.
• Smith's 55 runs scored were the best mark by a freshman in the Big Ten last year. He started 65 games, mostly at shortstop, and batted .273 with seven home runs and 35 RBIs.
Smith had three hits and three runs scored to earn All-Tournament honors at the Big Ten Tournament last season.
REWRITE THE RECORD BOOK
• The 2015 Terps left their mark in the school's record book. The squad won a school record 42 games, breaking the record of 40 that was set in 2014.
• The Terrapins also notched a program-best 36 regular season wins.
• The Terps advanced to consecutive NCAA Tournaments for the first time in 44 years (1970, 71).
• The 2015 squad produced a school record eight players selected in the MLB Draft.
• Maryland pitchers produced 549 strikeouts, which represents a school and conference record.
• Mike Shawaryn set the school record for total wins (13) and strikeouts (138) in a season.
SZEFC AT THE HELM
• John Szefc is in his fourth season at Maryland. Szefc became the fastest coach in Maryland history to reach 100 wins when the Terps defeated Purdue on April 26, 2015.
• Szefc won his 350th game as a head coach against Rutgers on May 16.
• Szefc is the only coach to win 40 games in back-to-back seasons after a 42-win campaign in 2015. The skipper is also the first Maryland coach to achieve three straight 30-win seasons.
• With another trip to the NCAA Super Regionals last season, Szefc became the first skipper in Maryland history to reachthe round in back-to-back years.
• On his first attempt, Szefc led the Terps to the final of the Big Ten Tournament. It is the second straight year the Terps have advanced to a conference tournament championship game after making the ACC final in 2014.
• Szefc picked up his 300th career victory against Michigan on March 28, 2015.
• Szefc's second season saw him lead Maryland to a then program record 40 wins and its first NCAA Tournament apperance since 1971.
• Maryland won the Columbia Regional and advanced to the Super Regional round for the first time in school history.
• The Terrapins advanced to the ACC Tournament for the first time since 2005 and advanced to the conference title game for the first time since 1976.
• Under Szefc, Maryland has won seven NCAA Tournament games. The Terps had previously won just one NCAA Tournament game - in 1970.
• In his first season as skipper in 2013, head coach Szefc led the Terps to a 30-25 record and finished 11-19 in the ACC.
• Szefc's 30 wins were the most by a first-year Maryland coach in program history.
• With a program-record 42 wins last season, Szefc became the first Terrapin coach to win 30 or more games in back-to-back seasons.
BEST CLASS... EVER
• Maryland baseball's 2016 recruiting class earned the program's highest ever rating from multiple publications including D1Baseball.com (17), Baseball America (22) and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper (27).
• The Terrapin class includes 12 true freshman and two junior college transfers.
• Two members of the group, pitchers Hunter Parsons (40th round, Indians) and Andrew Miller (34th round, Yankees), were selected in the 2015 MLB Draft.
• Freshman Nick Dunn was named a top prospect from the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League by Perfect Game.
• Nick Browne earned Perfect Game top prospect honors in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League.
• Baseball American named outfielder Marty Costes a top prospect from the Cal Ripken League.
• Maryland's class is boasted by two outstanding JUCO transfers. Former Harford Community College star Brandon Smith clashed .420/.510/.663 to help his squad win the Maryland JUCO Championships.
• Madison Nickens helped LSU-Eunice win the NJCAA Division II National Championship with a .289 average with six home runs and 37 RBIs. Nickens also brings elite speed. His 39 stolen bases ranked fifth in the nation.
• The class also boats two-time Washington D.C. Gatorade Player of the Year AJ Lee along with 2015 Baltimore Sun Metro Player of the Year Truman Thomas.
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