Maryland finishes its four-game homestand with a matchup against the VCU Rams on Tuesday afternoon. The Terps are coming off a rough weekend series against Ohio State, in which they lost two of three.

The Terps and Rams have already faced off twice this season and met twice last season, as well. Last season, the two teams split their two matchups while this season Maryland has won both matchups, 5-3 and 4-3, respectively.

Last season, Maryland took the first meeting, winning 2-0 in a low-scoring pitchers’ duel. However, VCU bounced back in mid-April routing the Terps by a score of 14-3.

VCU comes into this game 5-5 in their last 10 games, struggling to put together winning streaks after a great start to the season. Like Maryland, VCU lost two out of their three games over the weekend to Richmond. However, two of those losses were by one run and its game on Sunday was lost in an 11-inning marathon.

The Terps continue to struggle at home after the weekend’s two losses, dropping their record at Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium to a less than spectacular 7-12. Maryland is currently 11-8 on the road this season and this has kept their overall record close to .500 at 19-21.

The bats produced a combined 24 runs in the weekend series against Ohio State and this type of sustained offensive pressure will be key if Maryland wants to continue to win games moving forward. The Terps also allowed 23 runs, however, and the pitching staff will look to complement an offense that has been good as of late.

After the weekend, the Terps continue to get closer to having a hitter over the .300 mark as shortstop AJ Lee is now the team leader in batting average at .294. Hunter Parsons leads the team on the mound, leading the team with 70 innings pitched and is fourth on the team with a 3.60 ERA.

VCU Rams (28-12, 11-4 A10)

Last Season

Last season, VCU mustered a 34-23 record, enough for a sixth place finish and a berth in the Atlantic 10 conference tournament. VCU was good all season but were outstanding in March going on a 14-game winning streak between March 7 and March 30. The Rams were then knocked out of the Atlantic 10 tournament by No. 3 seed Fordham 3-2 to end their season.

This Season

The Rams have been solid for most of this season with an overall 28-12 record. They had an eight-game winning streak between March 2 and March 13. The Rams currently lead the Atlantic 10 conference by one game over the Dayton Flyers.

Hitters to Watch

The Rams are currently led by sophomore Liam Hibbits, who leads the team with an outstanding .399 batting average. Hibbits also has three home runs, which are third on the team and has 38 RBIs as well. Senior Zac Ching leads the team in home runs with six while junior Paul Witt leads the team with 40 RBIs.

Pitchers to Watch

The pitching attack for the Rams is led by junior Connor Gillispie who currently leads the team with 56.1 innings pitched in 14 starts. He has walked just 14 and has struck out 77 batters over those appearances with a 1.92 ERA. The Rams have mainly relied on Connor Dum out of the bullpen. In 14 appearances Dum has walked 10 and struck out 51 batters; he currently holds a solid 2.90 ERA.