Erik Bakich Hired as Terps' Head Baseball Coach
Vanderbilt assistant regarded as one of nation's best recruiters.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Vanderbilt assistant Erik Bakich has been hired as the University of Maryland's new head baseball coach, Director of Athletics Deborah A. Yow announced Monday, becoming the program's sixth head coach in its 116-year history. Bakich spent the last seven seasons with the Commodores, where he established himself as one of the best recruiters in college baseball, hauling in top-25 classes all seven years in Nashville, including the top-ranked national class in 2005 and second-ranked national class in 2008.

Former head coach Terry Rupp resigned May 29 after nine seasons in College Park, opening the door for Bakich to be hired. "It is an honor to be the next head baseball coach at the University of Maryland and to join an athletic department with an outstanding tradition of excellence," Bakich said. "I would like to thank Dr. Yow, Dan Trump and the search committee for giving me this tremendous opportunity to become part of the Terrapin family.

"I am eager to attack the recruiting trail and start building a winning baseball tradition at Maryland. There are numerous parallels between Maryland and the Vanderbilt of seven years ago. Much like Vanderbilt, our first goal will be reaching the ACC Tournament and eventually becoming a perennial College World Series contender. From a recruiting standpoint, we will be relentless in securing our borders around the state of Maryland and Northern Virginia, as well as tapping into the deep recruiting resources of the Northeast and Pennsylvania. I look forward to establishing a relationship with the current high school baseball coaches throughout the state of Maryland, former Maryland players, alumni and all the Terps fans across the nation."

In addition to his duties as recruiting coordinator, Bakich trained the Commodores' outfielders and served as a hitting coach. In 2004, Vanderbilt experienced the biggest batting-average increase in program history, hitting .304 that season coming off a .258 clip the previous year. Vanderbilt finished in the top three in the SEC in team batting three of the last four seasons under Bakich's tutelage.

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Kemp Named to Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team

RADFORD, Va. – Coming off one of the most prolific offensive seasons for a freshman in program history, Radford shortstop Jeff Kemp (Bowie, Md./Archbishop Spalding) was named to the Louisville Slugger Freshman All-American Team, announced by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Wednesday. Named the 2009 Big South Freshman of the Year in May, Kemp hit .337 in 49 games to go along with his five homers, 36 RBIs and 13 stolen bases on 17 tries. A player penciled into the starting lineup and heart of the order since opening day, Kemp put together one of the finest offensive seasons for a freshman in Radford’s history. His batting average is second all-time among Radford freshmen with 150 at-bats or more (Duane Filchner - .357, 1992). Kemp’s 36 knocked in are third-best for a Highlander frosh, trailing Alex Gregory's 40 in (2006), Adam McKenzie’s 37 in 1998 and tying Kelly Dampeer’s 36 in 1994. He provided an offensive spark to begin his career, reaching safely in 18 of his first 19 games. For the season, Kemp had 21 multi-hit games and nine multi-RBI efforts. Kemp joins McKenzie (1998), Dampeer (1994) and Mike Lombardi (1997) as Radford players to earn Freshman All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. Kemp was the first Highlander to earn the league’s rookie/freshman of the year honor since the award began in 1995.

In his MLB debut, Cecil allows two runs in six innings while striking out six

Newark, Del. - Dan Gerjets had a masterful start for the Patriots on Sunday and the George Mason baseball team broke a scoreless tie with a run in the top of the eighth and then added insurance runs in the ninth as Mason defeated Delaware, 5-2 in Colonial Athletic Association action. With the win, Mason (22-21, 14-8) improved to better than .500 for the first time all season.

Gerjets (5-1) went eight and one-third innings, allowing four hits and three walks while striking out nine and taking a shutout into the ninth. In making his first start since being hit in the head by a batted ball on April 23, the sophomore retired the side five times and did not allow a runner past second until the ninth. From the fourth inning through the eighth, he retired 13 straight batters.

2006 ARIZONA LEAGUE HITTER OF THE YEAR
Matt Sweeney, Magruder High School
Southern Maryland Baseball Camp
8th Round Draft Pick
Los Angeles Angels

Matthew Sweeney, 3B, Low Class A, Cedar Rapids Kernels
Matt has been on fire going 12 for his last 29 (.413avg) in his last eight games. He also had three hrs, a triple, three doubles and 13 RBI in that stretch. Just 19 years old, the native of Maryland has shown tremendous power for his age in what is generally considered a pitcher’s league. On the season he has 16 Homeruns, and 18 doubles while maintaining a fairly decent average (.276) and bb/k ratio (26/57).

What's Up: Fans clamoring for Brandon Wood to replace Chone Figgins at thirdbase after the season take notice. Matt Sweeney missed the entire 2008 season after sustaining an ankle injury in spring camp last year, needed season ending surgery. The well built, 6'3' 220 lb slugger who is just 21 years old, is making up for lost time. Hitting from the left-side of the plate, Sweeney has posted a .937 OPS to date and aside from his power totals (5 HR's, 12 doubles) he's shown an impressive 16/19 walks to strikeouts rate for a slugger. Sweeney gets the nod for the top spot after hitting .405 for the week, including 12 RBI's, while walking 9 times. No disrespect to Matt Brown, but yeah. Sweeney has more power, better plate discipline and is just 21 years old in High-A Ball, tons more upside. He lost an entire season last year due to a broken ankle, but he's a good bet to join the same spects (Conger, Bourjos, Trumbo, Mount) that he20was to start the season with last year in the next month or two in Arkansas. Matt Sweeney can flat out rake. I think Eddie Bane head of scouting, said he has the sweetest swing in the org. I think Matt ends up at AAA by early next season. Don't know where they'll put him though. Maybe he can replace Quinlan in 2012 : ) Sweeney definitely has the best swing that I can recall seeing in this organization. I'd also say it's one of the best I've seen in this organization. I've been hot on him since seeing him a couple of years ago. He just was different than the other guys I saw. And, that's why I kept asking about him over the offseason. My guess is that he spends a full year at AA, a full year at AAA and then at least another half year at AAA getting the call sometime in 2011.

Dan Canevari Is Named Pitching Coordinator

Dan Canevari returns to the Southern Maryland Baseball Camp as the coordinator of pitching instruction.  Canevari, who presently serves as Assistant Athletic Director for Development and Special Events at LSU, has brought a wealth of baseball experience to our camp for over 10 years.

Canevari led the Southeastern Louisiana University baseball team to the first post-season tournament wins in 12 years, and the first wins ever in the Southland Conference in three years at the school.  He accepted the Head Coaching position there after a 12 year career as the pitching coach and baseball camp director for Hall of Fame Coach Skip Bertman at LSU.  While he was at LSU, the Tigers won 5 National Championships and were named the NCAA Program of the Decade.  Canevari produced 6 major league pitchers during that time with over 25 pitchers moving into professional baseball.  Prior to arriving in Baton Rouge, Canevari coached and played at the University of Miami, where as an assistant coach the Hurricanes won their first National Championship in 1982 under Hall of Fame Coach Ron Fraser.

During his career, Canevari has earned a reputation as a vibrant, innovative coach and administrator with the talent to excel in all facets of a Division I program.  We are proud to have him in the Southern Maryland Baseball family.

Tom Walter - Head Coach, University of New Orleans

    
Terry Rupp - Head Baseball Coach, University of Maryland

   
Jim Wells - Head Coach, Alabama University

   
Joe Raccuia - Head Baseball Coach,
Radford University

Todd Raleigh - Head Coach, University of Tennessee

Roger Cador, Head Baseball Coach, Southern University

           Billy Brown - Head Coach, George Mason University