COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The Maryland baseball team (5-1, 0-0 Big Ten) welcomes George Mason (0-5, 0-0 A-10) to Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium on Tuesday at 4:00 p.m. for Maryland's first midweek game of the season. The game will be streamed on BTN Plus and broadcast on the Maryland Baseball Network. It's also dollar hot dog night!

The Last Time Out

• Maryland improved to 5-1 on the season and secured the series win with a 3-0 shutout of Rhode Island on Sunday. RHP Sean Burke was masterful in his second career start, tossing 5.2 innings of scoreless ball while striking out eight. Maxwell Costes was explosive at the plate, crushing two home runs in Sunday's rubber game, his first multi-homer game of his career.

The News and Notes

• Maryland leads the nation in hit-by-pitches, already at 23 through six games. The Terps led the conference in HBPs last year and have started the 2020 campaign in a similar fashion. Tucker Flint and Justin Vought have both been plunked five times, also the highest mark in the NCAA.
• The new-look starting pitching rotation for the Terps has been dominant through the first six games of the season. Sean Fisher, who had only come out of the bullpen in his first two seasons, has starred in the Friday night slot, tossing 11.2 innings giving up just one run. Nick Dean was solid in his debut vs. Iona and occupies the Saturday spot, while Burke has been electric in both of his starts this season, leading the team with 16 strikeouts and ranks second among starters with a 0.84 ERA.
• Maryland's bats came alive in the last two games of the series vs. Rhode Island, launching eight hits in each game and a combined five home runs after not hitting any in the first four games of the year. Austin Chavis, Troy Schreffler, and Ben Cowles went deep on Saturday and Costes raked two on Sunday.
• Randy Bednar, Costes, and Fisher all landed selections on the Big Ten Preseason "Players to Watch" list.
• Costes was selected as a preseason third-team Diamond Sports All-American, Collegiate Baseball newspaper announced. Costes became the first freshman in Maryland history to receive first-team All-Big Ten honors and was also named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year following the 2019 campaign.
• Bednar was named a third-team preseason All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA). Bednar received second-team All-Big Ten honors following his sophomore campaign in which he notched a team-high 70 hits, 48 runs scored, and 55 RBIs.
• The University of Maryland baseball team's recruiting class received the highest ranking in school history when D1Baseball.com rated it seventh in its 2019 recruiting class rankings. The Terps' recruiting class boasts 14 true freshmen and two junior college transfers, three of which were selected in the 2019 MLB Draft (Flint, Bobby Zmarzlak, Ryan Ramsey).

The Matchup

• RHP Zach Thompson (0-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.0 IP, 0 K, 0 BB) vs. LHP Nate Young (0-0, 9.00 ERA, 3.0 IP, 3 K, 0 BB)

The Opposition

• George Mason is off to an 0-5 start to its season with losses coming to North Carolina A&T, Butler, and Florida International. 
• Cam Reckling paces Mason with a .375 batting average on the season. Cooper Mrowka leads the Patriots in hits (5) and runs scored (4), while Scott Morgan has emerged as the team's power hitter, belting two homers and a double in four games played.
• The Patriots are batting .215 as a team and have scored 21 runs to opponents' 55.
• LHP Nate Young will get his first start of the season for the Patriots. The sophomore has allowed a 9.00 ERA in three relief innings pitched this season. In his only outing this year, the southpaw scattered four hits and allowed three runs while striking out three batters in his three innings.