The Maryland baseball team won its Big Ten Tournament games against Indiana on Wednesday and Friday in a similar fashion.
Wednesday, right-hander Mike Shawaryn threw a career-high 16 strikeouts in a complete game to lead the Terps to a 5-3 win over the Hoosiers in the first round.
Two days later, right-hander Brian Shaffer accomplished similar feats as Shawaryn. The sophomore tossed a complete game shutout while tying a career-high eight strikeouts.
The 6-foot-5, 200-pound hurler’s dominant play led No. 6-seed Maryland to a 3-0 victory over No. 3-seed Indiana at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska, to avoid elimination from the tournament.
The Terps will play No. 8-seed Iowa on Saturday morning. Maryland, one of the last four teams remaining, will need to defeat the Hawkeyes twice Saturday to advance to the tournament’s championship game.
Maryland (30-26) lost to Michigan State, 4-3, Friday afternoon as the Terps committed four errors and went 2-for-12 at the plate with runners on. But coach John Szefc’s squad bounced back in the evening to rack up 10 hits against the Hoosiers (32-24).
The Terps attacked right-hander Evan Bell, who entered with a 3.28 ERA, early. Left fielder Marty Costes, who leads the team with nine home runs, hit a long ball in the first inning to give his team a 2-0 lead.
Maryland had seven hits with one out in the fourth inning when right-hander Luke Stephenson replaced Bell, though the Terps stranded six runners on base through the first four frames.
Shaffer, meanwhile, allowed just two runners on base through the first six innings.
The Terps took advantage of Shaffer’s performance by scoring again in the seventh. Indiana shortstop Brian Wilhite couldn’t control catcher Nick Cieri’s hit as the ball rolled through Wilhite’s legs and right fielder Anthony Papio, who was 3-for-5 from the plate, advanced home.
But the insurance run didn’t matter, as Shaffer allowed two hits and three runners on base in his second career shutout to keep his team’s season alive.
