COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The Maryland baseball team hits the road for its first away conference series of the season this weekend at Rutgers. The two teams will play a doubleheader Saturday beginning at noon before Sunday's game three at 1 p.m.
Coverage of all three games can be heard on the Maryland Baseball Network or watched on BTN Plus ($).
LEADING IT OFF
• The Terps have won 14 of their last 17 games after starting the season 1-5. Of Maryland's eight losses, seven have come against ranked teams, and six losses have come against teams currently ranked in the top-10.
• Maryland and Rutgers have met once as Big Ten foes. The Scarlet Knights took two of three games in College Park last season.
• Sophomore Marty Costes went 10-21 (.476) last week over five games, with three home runs and five RBIs. Costes is currently tied for eighth in the Big Ten in batting average (.359).
• Maryland has seen a huge jump on the base paths this season with 48 steals in 23 games after 28 in all 57 games last year. The Terps rank sixth in the country in steals per game (2.09).
• Right-hander Brian Shaffer leads the Big Ten in strikeouts (48) and ERA (1.77). Through six starts, Shaffer has more strikeouts and a lower ERA than former Maryland RHP Mike Shawaryn did through the first six starts of his record-setting 2015 season.
• Brandon Gum ranks second in the Big Ten on on-base percentage, reaching base at a .479 clip. Gum is tied for fifth in the Big Ten in walks (15), despite having just one at-bat in the last 5 games.
• Junior transfer Ryan Hill has the most innings-pitched (17.2) of all relievers. Hill is second in the Big Ten in strikeouts among pitcher who have not made a start in 2017, trailing only Michigan State's Jake Lowery (28).
• Junior transfer Will Watson has started each of the last 14 games, all at designated hitter. In that span, Watson is hitting .380 (19-50), hitting safely in 12 of the 14 contests—including six multi-hit games—after starting the season 3-23 (.143).
• Sophomore Andrew Miller gave up his first runs of the season last week against UNC-W, after starting the season on a 10.2 IP scoreless streak. It's the longest scoreless streak to start a season since former Maryland LHP Alex Robinson began the 2015 season on a 16.0 IP scoreless streak.
• 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 became the fastest coach in Maryland history to win 150 games when the Terps topped Bryant in game one of a doubleheader on 3/12.
• 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.
Weekend Pitching Match-Ups
| Game | Maryland | Rutgers |
|---|
| Saturday |
RHP-Brian Shaffer, Jr. (3-1, 1.77, 48 K) |
RHP-Serafino Brito, So. (1-5, 5.19, 21 K) |
| Saturday |
RHP-Taylor Bloom, Jr. (3-2, 4.11, 20 K) |
RHP-John O'Reilly, Jr. (1-2, 6.55, 15 K) |
| Sunday |
LHP-Tyler Blohm, Fr. (4-2, 2.86, 28 K) |
RHP-Gaby Rosa, Sr. (3-1, 3.28, 10 K) |
-Terps-
<div id
