No. 23 Maryland (20-5) vs. Penn State (9-13)

📅 Apr. 1
📍 Bob 'Turtle' Smith Stadium
🕓 6:30 p.m. EST

📅 Apr. 2
📍 Bob 'Turtle' Smith Stadium
🕓 2:00 p.m. EST

📅 Apr. 3
📍 Bob 'Turtle' Smith Stadium
🕓 1:00 p.m. EST

COLLEGE PARK, MD -- The Maryland baseball team begins conference play as it welcomes the Penn State Nittany Lions to College Park for a three-game series starting on Friday night. The Terps have accumulated a 20-5 record to begin the year, the program's best mark through 25 games in school history. Maryland is currently ranked at No. 23 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
 

• Nick Dean, Ryan Ramsey, and Jason Savacool have combined to be one of the most formidable weekend rotations in the entire country.
• Dean has starred on Friday nights, accumulating a 0.93 ERA in three starts against Baylor, Campbell, and Michigan. Dean's last two starts have been up-and-down, earning a no-decision against Siena and a loss against Dallas Baptist. 
• Ramsey leads the team and the entire Big Ten conference in wins with six, defeating Baylor, Campbell, Indiana State, Cornell, Siena, and Dallas Baptist so far this season. Ramsey's 13 strikeout performance against the Big Red was a career-high and helped earn him Big Ten pitcher of the week honors.
• Savacool had the best outing of his career against Siena to starts ago, as the sophomore pitched seven innings of one-hit baseball, allowing zero runs and striking out a career-best 14 batters. Savacool's four wins on the year are tied for second in the Big Ten.

• The Terps received a boost when starting center fielder Chris "Bubba" Alleyne spurned signing with an MLB team and announcing his return to College Park for his fifth year of eligibility. This season, Alleyne is batting .287 with seven home runs and 22 RBIs.
• After a stellar freshman year where he batted .332 with seven home runs and 30 RBIs, Matt Shaw is back for the Terps. Against Baylor, Shaw terrorized the Bears, batting .538 with four runs scored, five RBIs, and two home runs en route to earning the Big Ten Player of The Week award. On March 11th, Shaw hit a walk-off two-run home run to defeat the Georgetown Hoyas 10-9.
• Troy Schreffler Jr. is enjoying a breakout season in his junior year, batting .367 to go along with five home runs and 29 RBIs. Schreffler Jr. has also been incredible on the defensive end, with his diving catch against Georgetown earning him a spot on SportsCenter's Top Plays.
• Third baseman Nick Lorusso has been stellar to start the year, batting third in the lineup and hitting .337 with four home runs and 25 RBIs. Lorusso has reached base in all 25 games this season. 

• Senior leader and All-Big Ten performer Maxwell Costes is batting .307 this season and is currently second in the Big Ten in home runs with 10.
• Costes now has 34 career home runs, tied for second-most in program history with Will Frazier's, which was hit between 02-05.
• Costes now trails only Paul Schager's 43 which was hit between 1984-87.

• Fifth-year Head Coach Rob Vaughn signed a contract extension this past summer after the program reached its first regional since 2017. Vaughn is a career 113-87 as the coach of the Terps
• Matt Swope and Anthony Papio return to the bench this year for Maryland, with Papio being named assistant coach this past summer. Mike Morrison joins the staff from Coastal Carolina, where won a national championship as a player in 2016 and where he spent the last two years as Director of Player Development and Scouting of the Chanticleers, as well as interim pitching coach. Former Maryland baseball player Tommy Gardiner joins the staff as Director of Player Development after spending the last four seasons playing under Vaughn, Swope, and Papio.

• The Nittany Lions are led in batting average by catcher Matt Wood, who has a line of .375, four home runs, and 19 RBIs. 
• Infielder Jay Harry is another dangerous bat for Penn State, as his three home runs and 12 RBIs are good for second on the team.
• Jaden Henline is expected to be on the mound this weekend and he has accumulated a 0-1 record with a 2.75 ERA and 25 strikeouts.
   

• This will be the 16th, 17th, and 18th matchup between Maryland and Penn State, with the Terps leading the all-time series 11-4. 
• The teams last played in March 2021, with Maryland taking two out of three games in University Park.