Following Wednesday’s puzzling rout at the hands of George Washington, the Maryland baseball team opened an important Big Ten series Friday night hosting the Iowa Hawkeyes. The 24-8 Terps are ranked between 16 and 21 in the various polls while the 21-9 Hawkeyes are ranked as high as 17th in one poll and are unranked in others. Still, Iowa came to College Park undefeated in B1G play sitting atop the conference with a 6-0 record. They returned to their hotel 6-1 coming out on the short end of a deceptively one sided 10-1 loss. The win improved Maryland to 8-2 in conference play.
The game matched Iowa’s Tyler Peyton who brought a 4-2 record with a 2.17 ERA into the contest against 7-0 Terrapins ace Mike Shawaryn who carried a 2.00 ERA to open the game. In what would become a pattern, Shawaryn got off to a shaky start when Iowa leadoff hitter Eric Toole drove the sophomore’s second pitch over the head of Maryland centerfielder Kengo Kawahara for a double. However, the Hawkeyes stranded him at second as Shawaryn retired the next three batters on two strikeouts and a grounder to third.
The Terps, who had also stranded a runner in scoring position in the first, got on the board in the second doing all their damage after two were out. Maryland’s rally began when Jamal Wade was hit by a 3-1 pitch from Peyton and Justin Morris pulled a single through the hole into right. Kawahara worked the count full and with both runners off with the pitch drove a ball into the gap in right center giving the Terrapins an early 2-0 lead.
Iowa picked up their only run of the night in the top of the third beginning with Nick Roscetti’s leadoff single to left. Toole followed with his second consecutive double going the opposite way driving a Shawaryn offering into the left field corner. While the Hawkeyes put their leadoff man on base in four of the first five innings, Peyton settled in retiring 10 of 11 batters heading into the bottom of the sixth. Jose Cuas opened the inning with a single and moved to second on Anthony Papio’s grounder to the right side. Tim Lewis drew a walk and Wade lashed a double into the left field corner easily scoring Cuas. But the fun was just getting started.
Iowa coach Rick Heller decided he’d seen enough from Peyton and brought Ryan Erickson in from his bullpen. Erickson retired Morris on a ground ball to third but then lost his ability to find the strike zone issuing back to back walks to Kawahara and Brandon Lowe. The latter came with the bases loaded giving Lowe his 26th RBI of the season. Brandon Shulista, pitching in relief of Erickson issued a third consecutive walk – this one to Kevin Smith – that extended Maryland’s lead to 5-1.
Meanwhile, Shawaryn had settled into a nice groove and retired the Hawkeyes in order in the sixth and seventh innings. The Terps turned the game into a rout in the bottom of the eighth doubling their run total. Wade opened the inning with his second double. Morris was hit by a pitch and Kawahara picked up his third RBI with a single to right center.
Brandon Lowe drew his fourth walk of the night to load the bases and everyone advanced on a wild pitch. With two out and two on, Cuas sent a towering shot over the fence in left center deep into the College Park night. That finished the scoring for Maryland who led 10-1.
The inning also ended Shawaryn’s night. The righty threw 128 pitches, striking out nine and walking just two. Redshirt freshman Ryan Selmer came on in mop up duty. He retired the first two batters before issuing a walk to John Barrett but he got the final out on a weak comebacker by Toole. The win improves Shawaryn to 8-0 on the season moving him past Charles Devereux into second place on Maryland’s all-time win list with 19. He is also just three wins shy of equaling his own Maryland record of 11 wins in a single season.
The Terps and Hawkeyes will meet twice more with afternoon games scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
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