By Blake Dowson
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On a cold and rainy weekend, the Iowa baseball team heated things up at Banks Field, taking two of three from Maryland to start the Big Ten slate.
Maryland, which took two of three from No. 23 Cal State-Fullerton a week ago, was for the most part stifled by Iowa pitching.
Sophomore C.J. Eldred got the the March 25 start for the Hawkeyes, throwing a complete game, allowing 1 run on 6 hits with 9 strikeouts in the 8-1 victory.
“C.J. threw a great game,” Iowa head coach Rick Heller said. “He gave us exactly what we needed, saving the bullpen. I couldn’t be happier for him. It was just a tremendous performance. He’s deserved way better this season; he hasn’t had much run support.”
That run support for Eldred came to the tune of an eight-run outburst against Mike Shawaryn, a preseason first-team All-American for the Terrapins.
Shawaryn was chased after only five innings. The Hawkeyes did much of their damage off the All-American in the second inning, hanging a 4-spot on the scoreboard.
Junior Mason McCoy started the inning with a ground-rule double to the left-center field gap. Senior Eric Schenck-Joblinske was hit by a pitch to put two runners on before freshman Robert Neustrom took a Shawaryn offering the other way off the wall for a 2-RBI triple.
Senior Joel Booker had the biggest swing of the inning, taking Shawaryn out to left with a line-drive home run that never went above the flags flying behind the outfield wall.
The Hawkeyes tacked on runs in the fifth, seventh, and eighth innings with RBIs from sophomore Austin Guzzo, senior Jimmy Frankos, and McCoy.
“[This win] is a sigh of relief, especially for it to come off of an All-American,” Booker said after the win. “To look back at the games we’ve played and how we’ve had a slow start, today was good to get us to relax and just play baseball.”
Tyler Peyton highlighted the Hawkeyes’ play on March 26; the senior All-American threw five solid innings and had the go-ahead 2-RBI single in the eighth inning in a 4-1 win.
The Terrapins took a lead on a fourth-inning homer by Kevin Biondic. That was the only bad pitch Peyton made all game.
“I thought [Peyton] looked normal today for the first time since Dallas Baptist,” Heller said. “That was a great sign. His fastball velocity was there, he had better command of it. He had command of his change up and his slider. He gave us exactly what we needed.”
Peyton was on a 60-pitch limit because of a forearm problem he has been dealing with most of the season.
He seemed to be back to his old self on March 26.
“I felt good. I felt like I could’ve thrown three or four more innings, to be honest,” he said. “But we’re playing it safe right now to see if I can get back to 100 percent in one or two more weeks.”
The Hawkeye bats were quieted on Sunday by Brian Shaffer, who threw a complete game for Maryland for a 4-1 victory.
Schenck-Joblinske smacked his first home run of the year off Shaffer in the third inning.
“Overall, I feel like we made big strides this weekend,” Heller said. “We had some guys step up on the mound and pitch extremely well. Up and down the lineup, guys and swinging the bat better with more confidence.”