COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- Maryland spends its third straight weekend on the road as it travels to Cary, N.C. for the USA Baseball-Irish Classic at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.
SETTING THE STAGE
• The 2017 season is head coach John Szefc's fifth season in College Park. Szefc has led the Terps to four straight 30-win seasons and two NCAA Super Regional appearances, both program firsts. He is seven wins away from becoming the fastest head coach in Terrapin history to reach the 150-win mark.
• The Terps topped the Big Ten preseason coaches poll while D1Baseball, Perfect Game and Baseball America named Maryland the Big Ten favorites for the 2017 season. It is the third straight year D1Baseball has tabbed the Terps its Big Ten preseason frontrunner.
• Maryland returns 11 player that totaled 410 starts last season, 80 percent of the team's total. That experience extends to the mound where the Terps bring back six players that made up 73 percent of the squad's total starts. Maryland lost just one player that made a start on the mound last season (Mike Shawaryn).
• Right fielder Marty Costes, a freshman All-American last season, is sixth in the Big Ten and leads Maryland with a .423 average. Costes moved from left to right field this season.
• Junior shortstop Kevin Smith was named a preseason first-team All-American by Baseball America and Perfect Game, and is Baseball America, Perfect Game and D1Baseball's preseason Big Ten Player of the Year. The East Greenbush, N.Y. native broke out this summer in the Cape Cod League, earning All-League and League Championship Series MVP honors. In 2016 with the Terps, he batted .259 with eight home runs and 34 RBI.
• Despite the loss of ace Mike Shawaryn, Maryland returns two All-Big Ten starting pitchers in juniors Brian Shaffer (third team) and Taylor Bloom (third team). Both boasted more starts than walks last season while tossing more than 100 IP. They became just the third and fourth pitchers in school history to surpass in the 100 innings pitched total in a single year.
• Third-team All-Big Ten second baseman Nick Dunn hit the first home run of his season against No. 12 Louisville in Maryland's second game of the season. Dunn led the Terps in average (.300), hits (68) and doubles (16) last year in a fantastic debut that saw him named a freshman All-American.
• Fifth-year redshirt senior Brandon Gum has had a great start to the 2017 season, batting .333 with a .478 on-base percentage. Gum also is tied for the Maryland lead with two steals.
Weekend Pitching Match-Ups
| Game | Maryland | ND/NCST/DAYTON |
|---|
| Friday |
RHP-Brian Shaffer, Jr. (0-0, 3.00, 2 K) |
RHP-Brandon Bielak, Jr. (0-0, 1.12, 8 K) |
| Saturday |
RHP-Taylor Bloom, Jr. (0-2, 14.40, 5 K) |
RHP-Mathieu Gauthier, Jr. (1-0, 3.48, 14 K |
| Sunday |
LHP- Tyler Blohm, Fr. (1-1, 4.91, 6 K) |
RHP-Tyler Jones, Jr. (0-0, 9.00, 2 K) |
#MARTYPARTY
• Sophomore Marty Costes has been the Terps' top offensive performer through six games w/ a .423 average and .538 slugging percentage.
• Costes led all Big Ten freshman with nine home runs in 2016 and earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors twice, en route to being named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team.
• The Baltimore native had a standout summer, earning Cal Ripken League All-Star honors after batting .319 with seven home runs for the Baltimore Redbirds.
JUNIOR CONTRIBUTORS
• After winning a school record 42 games and advancing to its second straight Super Regional, Maryland has been picked to win the Big Ten by D1Baseball.com.
• Biondic, a high school hockey goaltender who is a defensive standout at first, emerged offensively in 2016, batting .278 with five home runs and 24 RBI. Baseball America named him the best defensive first baseman in the Big Ten.
• Jancarski brings elite range to his position in the center of the Terrapin outfield and is Maryland's top steal threat on the bases. He was another summer standout, earning all-star honors in the New England Collegiate Baseball League.
FECTEAU ENTERS
• Ryan Fecteau is in his first season as the Terrapins pitching coach after a succesful six-year stint at Bryant.
• He helped the Bulldogs win 226 games and achieve three berths in the NCAA Tournament. In 2016, Bryant won 47 games, the most regular season wins of any team in the country and earned a No. 2 seed in the Charlottesville Regional, the highest seed in school and Northeast Conference history.
• Fecteau led his staff to the best ERA in the NEC four out of the past five season, and top-25 national marks in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016. In 2013, Bryant became the first NEC team in history to post a sub-3.00 ERA.
• Fecteau's player development has been top notch, with seven Bulldog hutlers drafted during his stint with the program. That includes 2014 fourth-round selection Kevin McAvoy, the highest pick in school history.
