Chris Alleyne often refers to himself as Maryland baseball’s “jack of all trades.” He has the ability to play multiple positions, reach base in various ways, and when he’s standing on first, use his speed to swipe second or score easily on a ball hit into the gap.

But the sophomore’s skillset started this season where it spent almost all of last year — on the bench. Despite transitioning from infield to center field in the offseason to help address a team need, he didn’t earn a start until the Terps’ third game. He hasn’t sat out since.

His role was clear. On defense: cover ground in center. As the nine-hole hitter: get on base for the top of the order. On the bases: wreak havoc in opposing pitchers’ minds. He wasn’t expected to lead Maryland to wins.

However, his 6-for-13 weekend against Stetson did just that. His first two career homers on Sunday guided Maryland to a series victory — a powerful performance beyond what head coach Rob Vaughn anticipated from the 5-foot-9 spark plug.

“[He] didn’t even start the first two games of the year,” Vaughn said, jokingly adding, “That shows you how dumb I am sometimes.”

In his freshman season, Alleyne mustered only two hits in 25 at-bats. On the bases, he even tripped in between third and home and was consequently tagged out as the game-winning run against James Madison (Maryland still won in 12 innings).

That’s all water under the bridge now, a distant blip already rectified only 14 games into a new season.

Alleyne is hitting .275 after his six-hit weekend against Stetson. He ranks first on the team in runs scored (12), second in home runs (2), and third in RBIs (7) and on-base percentage (.408). He’s also one of two Terps who doesn’t have more strikeouts than walks.

“Everyone’s going to struggle,” Alleyne said. “But there’s always a point where you’re going to see success if you can just stick with it.”

With regular leadoff hitter Caleb Walls entering Saturday on a 2-for-24 skid, Vaughn elected to switch things up midway through the series. He handed the role to Alleyne, who led off regularly at Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia.

While his hot bat was the highlight during Maryland’s two-win weekend, Alleyne had already become a mainstay of the lineup more for his speed and defensive abilities than his offense.

His incredible gap-to-gap range as a first-year outfielder became evident a week earlier against Louisiana Lafayette — especially in Maryland’s 14-inning marathon loss Saturday. In the 13th frame, he sprinted into deep right-center field and contorted his body to make an acrobatic, game-saving web gem, momentarily evading defeat.

The solid defense carried into this past weekend, when Stetson decided to test Alleyne’s arm. While the Terps lost on Saturday, Alleyne’s inning-ending, run-saving play maintained a two-run game. His throw moved catcher Justin Vought slightly up the third-base line, but not far enough to prevent a lunging tag at the plate.

“I love it out there,” Alleyne said. “It’s what [the team] needed. So as long as they need me out there, that’s what I’ll be doing.”

And then came Sunday, when Alleyne provided his team with much more offense than anyone thought he would provide. He drove in four runs and scored three times, playing a part in all but one of the team’s eight runs.

He reached base in all five trips to the plate: a leadoff double to start the game, a hit by pitch, his first-career homer, a walk and another two-run blast to seal the game. The first homer came from the right side of the plate against preseason All-American Mitchell Senger, and the other from the left side of the plate with the Terps clinging to a two-run lead.

“That home run he hit in the eighth there at the end to give us some breathing room … finally allowed us to squash [Stetson’s] momentum,” Vaughn said. “Even in our dugout, you could feel them coming a little bit and we were on our heels.”

Alleyne’s four-RBI afternoon was the difference in The Terps’ 8-4 win, which clinched a Maryland series victory over Stetson for the second consecutive year. It marked the Terps’ first road series victory since last April.

So, while “power” might not have been an established attribute in Alleyne’s self-proclaimed nickname, that’s exactly what Maryland needed from its jack of all trades for a big bounce-back weekend.

“I’m feeling good,” Alleyne said. “I’m not trying to do too much up there, just trying to allow my ability and my approach to take me where it wants to go.”