Can Erik Bakich be Maryland's Dr. Stink?

At the end of last year’s college baseball season, Maryland decided it needed a new direction and they hired coach Erik Bakich to rebuild the program.  At the time, Shell Games applauded the decision, if for no other reason than there was clearly a need for change.  As with any turnaround, the effects of this program’s efforts have not been immediately realized.  Maryland is currently 14-24 at about 2/3 through the regular season, and they are fighting to stay out of the basement of the ACC.  Just in case the Terps needed their morale stomped on a bit more, NC State capped off a sweep of the Terps this weekend with a 22-6 victory in College Park.

As Testudo Times points out, there is reason for hope.  The Terps have embarked on a campaign to keep local talent in Maryland.  According to UMTerps.com, UMD got the top two Maryland baseball players, infielder Kyle Convissar and catcher Alex Ramsay, to commit to playing in College Park next year.  Maryland also recruited heavily on the junior college circuit, which indicates that they should have some recruits that are immediately ready for prime time in 2010.  Also of note, the Terps signed pro coach Jim Leyland’s son Patrick, to be a catcher.  It’s never a bad thing to recruit a coach’s son, and hopefully it is just one more way that Maryland can get tied into the pro ranks.

The most crucial component to building a franchise is recruiting.  I’m not even going to call this a “re”building because Maryland baseball has been sub par for so long that Coach Bakich is really starting from scratch.  In my estimation, Bakich has done a good job of attracting talent that can have a near term impact on the team’s success.  As success breads success, look for the next step in the building process to be getting the team to play .500 ball next year.