Another Warrior chooses the Terps
Published 9:06 pm Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Nansemond River’s Brandon Lowe has verbally committed to a baseball scholarship offer from the University of Maryland, becoming the second rising senior with the Warriors to commit to the ACC’s Terrapins in a two-week span. NR outfielder Kyle Moore committed to Maryland. Lowe and Moore are Warrior teammates and travel club teammates with Canes Baseball.
Brandon Lowe insists it’s a coincidence. Lowe and Nansemond River teammate Kyle Moore didn’t visit Maryland on the same trips. There’s no pact to continue as teammates beyond their high school baseball careers.
Lowe verbally committed to a scholarship offer to play baseball for the University of Maryland last week, a week after Moore did the same with the ACC’s Terrapins.
“Hearing (about Moore) was cool. I mean, we’ve been playing together since we were really young,” Lowe said. “But it was all separate.”
Lowe, now a rising senior, has been the starting shortstop for the Warrior varsity squad since his freshman season.
From the third spot in Nansemond River’s order, as the Warriors went 20-8 this season winning the Southeastern District Tournament and reaching the state quarterfinals, Lowe hit .493. Add in 23 walks and his on-base percentage was .626. If that’s not enough, Lowe had nine doubles while playing a part in 10 double plays at short.
Lowe and Moore are teammates for most of the year as they play for Canes Baseball, an organization of select teams based in Fredericksburg, during the summer and fall.
With the Canes, Lowe is more of a utility player, getting playing time at second base and third base as well as shortstop.
“We’re facing great competition every weekend. It seems like with the Canes, you’re always seeing the best pitching. My coaches here and with the Canes, they’ve helped me all along and helped me to get where I am,” Lowe said.
Lowe has more incentive to give respect to his Warrior coaches as his dad, Tom, is an assistant coach at NR.
“When I visited the campus and saw it, that’s when I really liked the school,” Lowe said.
“Meeting the coaches settled it. It’s an up and coming program and it’s something I really want to be a part of,” Lowe said.
Maryland’s in the powerful ACC but not one of the powers compared to its southern rivals. Under second-year head coach Erik Bakich, the Terps went 16-10 outside the ACC last year while going 5-25 in conference. Bakich was an assistant coach at Vanderbilt prior to taking the job at Maryland.
“After committing, it felt a whole lot better, like a weight lifted off my shoulders,” Lowe said.
Lowe’s decision came down to Maryland, Old Dominion and Virginia Commonwealth.
