Baseball has bigger concerns than weekend opponent

Asked Wednesday about the Terrapin baseball team's weekend series against Canisius, outfielder Brandon Padula offered a candid assessment of his knowledge of the Terps' next opponent.

"Not really anything, to be honest," Padula said. "I don't even know anything about the team. It doesn't really matter."

His indifference toward the Golden Griffins, of Buffalo, N.Y., was hardly surprising. While the Terps still scout every opponent under second-year coach Erik Bakich, their utmost focus is on how they're playing, not whom.

"It doesn't matter who our opponent is," Bakich said. "Our opponents are nameless and faceless."

While Canisius (3-4) doesn't present the same challenge as then-No. 6 Texas did in the Terps' season-opening series in Austin, Bakich's method of motivating based on his team rather than the opposition keeps the Terps energized regardless of the matchup.

"We're just hungry to win," shortstop Alfredo Rodriguez said. "It doesn't really matter who we're playing. We're just playing against ourselves and the game. We just look forward to every single weekend, and we try to have as much fun with it, ... and we're winning, so it's good."

"You don't put the focus on the other jersey. You put the focus on playing the game against the game," Bakich said. "You're playing against yourself."

Against a Canisius team that boasts only two players batting above .300 and a pitching staff with a 5.25 ERA, a second series victory in three weekends wouldn't be unexpected.

But even with the injection of talent and higher aspirations for the 2011 season, Bakich isn't ready to put this weekend's three-game series in the win column.

"We'll always be the underdog," Bakich said. "But whether you're the underdog or the guy with the target on your chest or the No. 1 team in the country, you still have to play the game one pitch at a time.

"The best team doesn't win. The team that plays the best that day wins. That's all it is."

It's that fact, Bakich insists, that explains why the once-lowly Terps were able to take a game, and almost two, against Texas to start the season — a series that not only got the team off to an inspiring start but continues to give the players optimism.

"It's just a winning culture," Rodriguez said. "We come to every series expecting to win. I think you saw when we put it all together what we can do against a team like Texas. That sort of gives us confidence. When we put it all together, we can beat anyone in the country."

Bakich had very little to say about Canisius, reiterating that it didn't matter who's next on the Terps' schedule. But he did hint that just because Canisius doesn't have the same name value as the Longhorns doesn't mean the Terps can take them lying down. In their opening weekend, the Golden Griffins beat Toledo twice, a team that later went on to take two of three from then-No. 16 Louisville.

But the Terps maintain that none of that will be of consequence this weekend.

"It doesn't matter whether we're playing Texas, Canisius, the school of the blind or the San Francisco Giants," Bakich said. "We're playing the game against the game, and that's what we're going to do."

TERP NOTE: Sunday's game has been canceled due to the threat of inclement weather. The Terps will instead play a doubleheader tomorrow starting at noon.

schneider@umdbk.com