After an action packed Cambria College classic series this past weekend, the Terps head back home Tuesday for their midweek game. Maryland will take on a familiar foe in the crosstown UMBC Retrievers on Tuesday for their third straight midweek game at The Bob.

The Terps will be desperate for a rebound in what has been a disappointing start to the season so far, which only continued with the Terps dropping all three of its games this past weekend. Maryland started off against a familiar foe on Friday as they yet again faced the No. 4 Ole Miss Rebels to start off the weekend. Jason Savacool was on the mound, and he would allow only three runs in five innings, but the Terps would only score one run on the night as they fell 5-1 to begin the weeknd.

Initially, Saturday didn’t look much better for Maryland, as against the No. 7 Vanderbilt Commodores, the Terps would initially go down 5-1 after two innings. Although, after a monster five run fifth inning that was headlined by a three run Kevin Keister homer, the Terps would go up 6-5. Vanderbilt would tie it up in the bottom of the inning, but a Nick Lorusso homer would give Maryland a one run lead which they took into the ninth inning. But both Nigel Belgrave and Kyle McCoy would fail to close out the game in the ninth, and Vanderbilt scored two runs for a heartbreaking walk off 8-7 victory. 

In the final game of the series, the exhausted Maryland squad faced the Hawaii Warriors. Nate Haberthier would allow five runs in 5 ⅓ innings and be charged with the loss with the Terps falling to the Warriors by a score of 9-3. Maryland failed to win a game at the Cambria College Classic and fell to 4-7 on the year in what proved to be an immensely disappointing weekend for a team that had high expectations coming into the season.

UMBC Retrievers (4-3)

Last Season

The 2022 season did not prove to be kind to the Retrievers, as the team was bombarded by multiple and lengthy losing streaks. UMBC went 23-31 on the year and finished a miserable 11-19 in conference play, which placed them last in the America East Conference B Division. UMBC’s season would end on a 2-1 loss in the America East Tournament to the New Jersey Institute of Technology. A strong point for UMBC was its hitting, which overall had a slash line of .289/.392/.404 that was good enough for third in America East. The Retrievers offense was led by America East Second Team member Ian Diaz, who started in all 55 of the team’s games. UMBC’s pitching was the main weak point for the team as they had a subpar 5.97 ERA and a paltry 1.67 WHIP.

This Year

UMBC has so far had a solid start to the year where they have had an above .500 record after their first seven games. Although UMBC started the year off by losing to Delaware in an 11-22 game, the Retrievers have since stabilized themselves by salvaging their first and so far only weekend series of the year at the College of Charleston, where they took one of three games. Since their 1-3 start, UMBC has managed to go on a three game winning streak. The streak includes two doubleheader wins on Sunday in Delaware against Delaware State University and St Peter’s University, where they outscored their opponents 15-7 on the day.

Hitters to Watch

The main hitter for the Retrievers to watch last year would have undoubtedly have been Ian Diaz, and this remains the same going into Tuesday. The graduate student is off to a torrid start so far, slashing .478/.657/.826 in seven games with seven RBI and a homerun. However, it’s not only Diaz you need to watch out for, as the entire UMBC team has started off the year slashing .298/.406/.438 from behind the plate. Other headliners for the team include sophomore Matt Ryan, who has built on a strong freshman campaign with a .357 batting average and six RBI in seven games. Freshman Molessa Leewood has also had a scalding start to his college career, with a whopping nine RBI and a home run along with a .355 batting average in seven games.

Pitchers to Watch

UMBC’s hitting has remained and even surpassed last year’s level this year, but its pitching has so far taken a step back, with a 7.50 ERA and abysmal 1.80 WHIP to start the year. Sophomore southpaw Jordan Shertel has stood out despite the team struggles, as he pitched 5 ⅓ innings against Delaware State, while allowing only one run on the day. Freshman Joshua Rivera has also started his college career off right with a 3.37 ERA after three relief appearances. Junior Sam Daniels and senior Connor Kelly are other relief pitchers who have had good starts as both have not allowed a run on the year in three and two appearances respectively.

Probable Starting Pitching Matchup

TBD

In Maryland’s two midweek games on the year, Ryan Van Buren and Kyle McCoy started the game, though both pitched this past weekend, so Coach Rob Vaughn will likely look elsewhere for starters against UMBC. This is very likely to be junior lefty Logan Ott, who has a 3.37 ERA on the year. Ott not only did not pitch in the weekend series, but was magnificent against Delaware last Tuesday with 4 ⅔  innings pitched where he only allowed two runs.

The Retrievers are coming off of a doubleheader this past Sunday, which means their main starters and bullpen pieces may be out of commission for Tuesday’s game. The names mentioned above in Jordan Shertel, as well as reliever Sam Daniels if the Retrievers make it a bullpen game, would be strong starting candidates as they both didn’t pitch Sunday.