Maryland baseball’s Maxwell Costes wins 2nd Big Ten Freshman of the Week award of season

Maryland baseball entered the 2019 season needing players to step up, and versatile freshman Maxwell Costes has done just that. He received his second Big Ten Freshman of the Week award in three weeks on Monday.

Costes came into the season as a player who was able to play basically anywhere on the diamond that head coach Rob Vaughn needed him to play. That’s included some time in the outfield, at first base and as the designated hitter. Costes has helped Maryland start the season 9-5, including a series win at Stetson last weekend.

In that series, Costes went 5-for-12 with a home run, six RBIs and two runs scored, including a career-high five RBIs on Saturday. With Maryland’s midweek game against Delaware included, Costes had six hits, two home runs, seven RBIs and four runs scored.

As of Monday, Costes was leading the Big Ten in RBIs with 15 and was third in the conference in total bases with 28. On the season, he’s hitting .327/.446/.538, tied for the team lead in hits with 17 and leading the team in average, slugging, on-base percentage and OPS.

The Terps play a midweek game at Delaware on Wednesday before welcoming No. 17 East Carolina to Bob “Turtle” Smith Stadium this weekend, Maryland’s biggest series so far this season.

In other news

The Big Ten released its season honors and Maryland had three representatives, led by Bruno Fernando, who was named to the All-Big Ten first team and all-defensive team.

Fernando also got All-American Honorable Mention honors from Sporting News on Monday.

Maryland basketball rose to No. 21 in this week’s AP Poll after defeating Minnesota last Friday.

Jalen Smith, now a Big Ten all-freshman team member, won Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors for the third time this season after putting up 19 points and 11 rebounds against the Golden Gophers.

After securing its first 2020 commit, Maryland football and head coach Mike Locksley will look toward their own backyard to build up next year’s recruiting class.

Justin Fitzgerald continued his bracketology predictions, and he thinks Maryland’s most likely first-weekend destinations are two cities on opposite ends of the country.

Women’s basketball moved down to No. 9 in this week’s AP Poll after its Big Ten tournament championship loss to Iowa.

Maryland men’s lacrosse moved up to No. 6 in the latest Inside Lacrosse poll, and Maryland women’s lacrosse held steady at No. 2 after a double-overtime victory against No. 4 Syracuse at home (which extended the Terps’ home winning streak to 80 games).

And former Maryland baseball star Brandon Lowe is tearing it up at Tampa Bay Rays spring training, hitting .448 with two home runs and 13 RBI in 29 at-bats, including this 448-foot home run onto a roof over the weekend.