Feb. 22, 2011

ANNAPOLIS, Md. - The Navy baseball team will make the short trek to College Park on Wednesday to face the Maryland Terrapins at 3 p.m. at Shipley Field.

At 0-3, the Midshipmen will be aiming for their first win of the year, while Maryland enters at 1-3 after a four-game series with Texas.

Midweek Quick Hitters...
• Navy opened the 2011 season with a three-game set at Presbyterian, where they went 0-3 ... The Mids dropped the first two games by identical scores of 12-5, rallied for 6-5 lead late in game three, but wound up falling, 10-7.
• Junior third baseman Josh Moore led Navy at the plate on the weekend, as he went 3-for-9 and hit his first-career home run in Friday's game.
• Senior catcher Jeff Bland hit home runs in consecutive games last weekend and moved into a four-way tie for 10th place on Navy's all-time list with a career total of 11 homers.
• A total of seven Midshipmen made their collegiate debuts last weekend, including: David Norman, Kyle Hackney, Brandon Beans and Nikolai Simonsen, as well as pitchers Taylor Cato, Dwayne Gammage and Jordan Heller.
• Two Mids made their first-career starts on Opening Day in freshman Brandon Beans (right field) and sophomore Dave Milanes (designated hitter).
• A win on Wednesday would give head coach Paul Kostacopoulos his 150th victory at Navy.
• After being held hitless in the first two games of last weekend's series, the Mids' leading returning hitter, Alex Azor, came alive on Sunday with a pair of doubles and two RBIs.

About Maryland
The Terps enter Wednesday's game at 1-3, after a four-game set at Texas ... In head coach Erik Bakich's first year as head coach, Maryland went 17-39 overall and 5-25 in ACC play in 2010 ... The Terps return a total of 12 letterwinners from last year's team, including four position players and seven pitchers ... Junior Brandon Padula is the team's leading-returning hitter, as he hit .333 with 33 RBIs and started 51 games a season ago ... Junior shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez, who hit .280 with 30 RBIs, is the only returning Terp that started all 56 games in 2010.

The Series
Navy leads the all-time series, 50-37-2, while Maryland has won the last nine games in the series, including a 5-1 game last season ... Navy's last win over the Terps came in 1995 when it won 14-6 in College Park.

Up Next
Navy will travel to Kinston, N.C., where it will meet Air Force in the inaugural Freedom Classic. The three-game series will be played at Grainger Stadium, home of the Kinston Indians, the class-A affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. First pitch on Friday is scheduled for 6 p.m.