When Maryland baseball right-hander Mike Shawaryn was struggling earlier this season, associate head coach Jim Belanger didn’t want the junior to make any major adjustments to his game.
Instead, he assigned motivational reading to Shawaryn.
Belanger told Shawaryn to read “Heads-Up Baseball: Playing the Game One Pitch at a Time” by Tom Hanson, which gives tips about how to work through struggles.
And in Maryland’s contest against No. 3-seed Indiana in the first round of the Big Ten Tournament on Wednesday, Shawaryn was dominant. The 6-foot-3 junior threw a career-high 16 strikeouts in a complete game to lead the No. 6-seed Terps to a 5-3 win at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska.
Maryland will play the winner of No. 2-seed Nebraska against No. 7-seed Michigan State on Thursday at 6 p.m.
“That’s a pretty special day,” coach John Szefc said. “The more impressive things for me was in the middle innings, he kind of struggled with his fastball command a little bit and he was kind of able to right himself. It didn’t really surprise me because he’s been in so many situations like this before.”
While Szefc said the Terps’ experienced players needed to step up in the postseason, freshmen second baseman Nick Dunn and left fielder Marty Costes led Maryland (29-25) on offense. The duo combined for six of the Terps’ 11 hits and four of the team’s five RBI’s.
“Those are two pretty special offensive guys, who are playing in their 54th game,” Szefc said. “It makes us feel good about today, but it also makes us feel good about the future.”
Maryland took the lead in the first when Dunn singled in Costes. In the third, the Hoosiers (31-23) tied the contest when left fielder Alex Krupa reached on a fielder’s choice and first baseman Austin Cangelosi advanced home.
The Terps recorded four hits in the first two innings, but left-hander Kyle Hart then retired nine batters. In the fifth, though, the offense got the best of Hart. Behind four hits, Maryland extended its lead to 4-1.
Costes hit a ground-rule double to score center fielder Zach Jancarski before Dunn singled in right fielder Anthony Papio. Shortstop Kevin Smith then grounded out to drive in Costes.
“In the past, I’ve struggled hitting off-speed pitches, especially low and away,” Costes said. “I stayed aggressive throughout the game, and it worked out for me.”
But Indiana responded in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Terps’ lead to 4-3 when second baseman Colby Stratten knocked an RBI double and right fielder Logan Sowers hit a sacrifice fly to plate a run.
“I tried to attack each hitter,” Shawaryn said. “Like Szefc said in the middle innings, I kind of got away from that. I was able to make another adjustment and get back to where I was. It was a fun day to pitch.”
Szefc said the turning point in the contest was when Costes made a diving catch on catcher Ryan Fineman’s hit to end the fifth and hold the Hoosiers to two runs in the frame.
Maryland added insurance in the seventh when Dunn drove in his third run of the game.
As the two teams traded runs throughout the contest, Shawaryn remained on the hill to record his second straight complete game. Despite struggling at times this season, the Terps’ all-time strikeouts leader added to his resume Wednesday.
“This kind of shows the stuff he’s been through,” Szefc said. “Clearly the guy is a special guy. We’re lucky enough where he’s still pitching for us.”
