Two years of talking with anyone who would listen — recruits, their parents, boosters, potential fans — are gone.
Now, it’s time for Erik Bakich’s Maryland baseball program to show growth in the win column.
Is that an unfair demand of the man in charge of one of the area’s most historically woebegone college programs in any sport? Not really.
Just ask him.
“Ultimately, the things we need in this program, the things that are the long-term goals of this program - be they attendance goals or facility goals - those are going to happen because our program is successful, not because we’re getting people excited about what we’re going to do,” Bakich said. “There comes a point where what you’re going to do and what you are doing have to match up.”
It hasn’t happened yet, and understandably so. Bakich inherited a program now four decades removed from its most-recent NCAA tournament appearance (1971) and a roster with limited talent. Maryland predictably took lumps and Bakich hustled to improve the program’s amenities while luring a posse of recruits to College Park in time for last season.
That inexperienced bunch went 21-35, moving Bakich’s two-year mark to 38-74.
Bakich’s long-term public chatter about national championships and winning the ACC were precisely the sort of thing that could buoy players’ spirits during tough times. The new message is a little different, with defined priorities coming into what the Terrapins believe could be a breakout season.
“It’s just coming out and letting our play do the talking,” said senior shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez, whose Terps open the season with a three-game series at UCLA beginning Friday.
Internally, though, there is an unquestioned target in mind. It also happens to be the biggest one in the sport.
Yes, Bakich is openly discussing the College World Series with a slightly seasoned and generally unproven team.
“If we want to be the team we want to be, we have to talk about Omaha,” Bakich said. “We have to. It’s not premature. If we are truly going to become a postseason team and do it on a perennial basis, the expectation has to be to go to the World Series. It just has to be. Or otherwise, what are you playing for?”
Given Maryland’s forgettable history, it’s not the most familiar topic. The Terps, after all, haven’t even reached the eight-team ACC tournament since the conference’s first season with 12 schools in 2006.
But at least the path to that milestone isn’t hard to plot.
In the league’s 12-team era, the No. 8 seed has averaged 14 wins in 30 league games. Every ACC tournament team to finish with more than 35 total victories in that span earned an NCAA tournament invitation.
Each season is different, but those benchmarks seem a little more attainable with two of the tireless Bakich’s recruiting classes stacked up, even if the last time the Terps won more than a third of their conference games was 1989.
With many basic program necessities acquired in the past two years - such as a covered and lighted hitting and pitching facility, an infield surface capable of handling the weather, a video analysis system to serve as a teaching tool and a renovated locker room - Bakich has more time to devote to developing the Terps’ skills.
“From last year to this year, I feel he’s more confident in our team,” sophomore first baseman Tim Kiene said. “He believes, and we all believe.”
Hence the daily discussion internally of playing deep into June, even if it’s something foreign to the oft-overlooked program nestled in the middle of Maryland’s campus.
“At some point, every team that’s been to Omaha had never been and went for the first time,” Bakich said. “So why not us? Why not now?”
• Patrick Stevens can be reached at pstevens@washingtontimes.com.
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