Maryland baseball at Portland series preview
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The Terps head to the West Coast for a three-game set against the Pilots.
After mounting a late comeback against Mount St. Mary’s on Tuesday, Maryland baseball heads to the West Coast to take on Portland in a three-game series, concluding a seven-game road trip.
Following its midweek victory, Maryland (13-4) moved up to No. 44 in RPI.
Each game this weekend will be broadcast on ESPN+, with Friday’s game set for 9 p.m. ET, Saturday’s set for 6 p.m. and the series finale scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
Portland Pilots (9-5, 0-0 WCC)
2023 record: 31-23, 17-10 WCC
Portland is off to a solid start this season, ranked No. 81 in RPI. Most recently, the Pilots pulled off an impressive 15-5 victory against Oregon, but last weekend they dropped two of three games to Creighton.
Outside of those results, Portland took two of three from San Diego State, lost twice to USC, swept Utah Valley and beat Omaha in a midweek contest.
In his eighth season, head coach Geoff Loomis ranks fourth in program history with 152 career wins.
Hitters to watch
Jake Holcroft, redshirt senior outfielder, No. 4 — Through 14 games, Holcroft has a .328 batting average, .941 OPS, three home runs and 13 RBIs. This past week, Holcroft broke the program record for most career hits with his 259th knock.
Jonas Salk, sophomore infielder, No. 14 — Salk leads the Pilots with 14 RBIs this season. Beyond that, Salk has a .281 batting average, .879 OPS and three home runs in 2024.
Brady Bean, sophomore infielder, No. 22 — Bean has a team-high .357 batting average through 11 games this year. His OPS of .996 also leads the Pilots.
Pitchers to watch
Nick Brink, redshirt junior right-handed pitcher, No. 37 — Brink has been Portland’s Friday night starter in 2024 and will most likely receive the ball again this Friday. Thus far this season, Brink has a 2-1 record with a 4.50 earned run average in 22 innings pitched. In his four starts, Brink has 30 strikeouts and has given up three home runs.
Joey Gartrell, junior right-handed pitcher, No. 11 — Gartrell has usually been Portland’s Saturday starter in 2024, but did pitch the second half of the team’s doubleheader last Sunday. In four starts this season, Gartrell has a 2-2 record with a 5.23 ERA through 20 ⅔ innings. Gartrell has only given up two home runs and has recorded 23 strikeouts.
Sam Stuhr, junior right-handed pitcher, No. 34 — Stuhr has been Portland’s Sunday starter but hasn’t gotten off to the best start to his season. The right-hander has a 0-1 record with a 6.86 ERA through 19 ⅔ innings.
Strength
Limiting the long ball. Through 14 games, Portland pitching has given up 14 home runs. The long ball won’t be too damaging when a team only allows one per game.
Weakness
Striking out. Portland has struck out 132 times so far. Being sent down on strikes an average of 9.43 times per game is not a recipe for success.
Three things to know
1. Strikeouts have become an issue. Recently, Maryland has been striking out a ton at the plate. In their last game, the Terps struck out 11 times, with Elijah Lambros responsible for four.
2. Scoring troubles. In its past two games, Maryland has been neutralized offensively. Despite winning both games, the Terps had to rely on their pitching to get the job done.
3. Heading out west. This is the only time this season the Terps will have to fly cross-country, which will become commonplace when UCLA, USC, Oregon and Washington enter the Big Ten next season.
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