COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The Maryland baseball team (7-4, 0-0 Big Ten) welcomes Bryant (2-8, 0-0 NEC) to Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium for a three-game series beginning Friday, March 6 at 4 p.m. ET. The games will be streamed on BTN Plus and broadcast on the Maryland Baseball Network.

The Last Time Out

• Maryland improved to 7-4 on the season after beating Delaware 13-6 on Wednesday. The Terps put together their best offensive effort of the year, tallying 15 hits, six doubles, and home runs from Benjamin Cowles and Tavan Shahidi.

The News and Notes

• After not hitting a homer in the first four games of the season, Maryland has blasted nine in its last seven games. Maxwell Costes leads the charge with three, while Benjamin Cowles has recorded two. Austin Chavis, Troy Schreffler Jr., Tavan Shahidi, and Randy Bednar have also gone yard for the Terps.
• Maryland leads the conference and ranks second in the nation in hit-by-pitches, already at 35 through 11 games. The Terps led the conference in HBPs last year and have started the 2020 campaign in a similar fashion. Tucker Flint has been plunked a team-high six times, a mark which also ranks highest in the league.
• Maryland's starting pitching rotation includes two freshmen in Nick Dean and Sean Burke. Each of them have proven worthy of their starting roles, combining for 31 innings and 41 strikeouts. Burke has been dominant on Sundays, leading the team with a 1.62 ERA over a team-high 16.2 innings. The Sutton, Mass. native leads Big Ten freshmen starting pitchers (min. two starts) in wins (1), ERA (1.62) and strikeouts (24). Dean and Burke are the only freshmen starting pitchers in the conference to possess more than 10 strikeouts/nine innings.
• Tavan Shahidi and Matt Orlando moved into starting roles last weekend, filling in for the injured Justin Vought and Tommy Gardiner.
• Bednar, Costes, and Sean 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 Matchups

• LHP Sean Fisher (2-1, 6.14 ERA, 14.2 IP, 12 K, 5 BB) vs. RHP Tyler Mattison (0-3, 6.00 ERA, 15.0 IP, 12 K, 5 BB)
• RHP Nick Dean (0-1, 5.65 ERA, 14.1 IP, 17 K, 7 BB) vs. RHP Tyler Schoff (0-3, 7.90 ERA, 13.2 IP, 10 K, 12 BB)
• RHP Sean Burke (1-0, 1.62 ERA, 16.2 IP, 24 K, 9 BB) vs. RHP Will Treuel (0-2, 6.75 ERA, 13.1 IP, 13 K, 7 BB)

The Opposition

• Bryant is off to a 2-8 start to the season, with two wins coming over Georgia State.
• James Ciliento paces the Bulldogs with a .314 batting average. The senior outfielder leads the team in hits (11), doubles (3), RBI (7) and stolen bases (8). 
• The Bulldogs are batting .169 as a team and have scored 30 runs to opponents' 64.
• RHP Mason Palmieri leads Bryant's starting pitching rotation with a 2.45 ERA in 14.2 IP. The graduate right-hander isn't slated to get a start in the weekend series.