Iowa baseball had its chances to score early in its game against Maryland Friday, but the Hawkeyes kept on squandering their opportunities before finding a way to a 6-2 victory.

In the sixth inning, with the Hawkeyes down 2-0, they got runners across home plate thanks to having a good sequence at the plate.

The No. 9 hole hitter, shortstop Brendan Sher, hit a two RBI double to right center off a 12-6 curveball on an 0-1 count with two outs that would give the Hawkeyes a 3-2 lead that they would never surrender.

“I just kind of trying to relax,” Sher said. “My first at bat I got a little ahead of myself because great pitcher on the mound. He was a heck of a pitcher… Second time I told myself to relax, so down, and I ended up drawing a walk. Third at bat, same thing, I just said ‘slow it down, you were on it last at bat.’ He came with a fastball first pitch, and then he came to that curveball, and I was just on time for it.”

YES, SHER!

We take the lead on a two-out, two-RBI double!#Hawkeyes 3, Terrapins 2 pic.twitter.com/cRpzEwXEiL

— Iowa Baseball (@UIBaseball) April 24, 2021

Sher said he noticed Maryland starting pitcher Sean Burke was starting to wear down after he had thrown over 100 pitches, but that didn’t he wasn’t battling, and the Hawkeyes wanted to battle against him as well. The Hawkeyes knew even when they were struggling early on with only two hits in the first five innings that they needed to stay the course.

The sixth inning sequence started when catcher Austin Martin walked to begin the inning. After Dylan Nedved struck out, right fielder Zeb Adreon singled to right field. Third baseman Matthew Sosa then reached first base on a fielder’s choice while Martin got thrown out at third, but then Adreon got to advance to third because of a bad throw by Maryland’s third baseman to first.

Sosa would then steal second, and that Adreon would score a wild pitch from Burke that went to the backstop standing up. Sosa advanced to third on that play, and left fielder Brayden Frazier finished his at bat with a walk.

Head coach Rick Heller said the coaches were telling a few players that early in the count with runners in scoring position to set on the breaking ball, but that it wasn’t clicking earlier in the game.

“It was really good to see him break it up open for us and get things,” Heller said of Sher’s two RBI double. “That was a big hit for us.”

It sure was. Though the sixth ended a batter after Sher, the Hawkeyes got right back to work in the seventh with two perfectly executed sacrifice bunts for Nedved and Adreon that scored a runner each.

In the eighth inning, first baseman Peyton Williams hit a single to left field that brought in the final run of the game.

Williams and Adreon both went 2-for-4 on the night. The Hawkeyes were also active on the basepaths, with one steal each from Nedved, Adreon, and Sosa tying a season-high for team steals in a game.

The Hawkeyes (16-10) have won 12 out of their last 14 games. They will play against the Terrapins again at 1:05 p.m. Saturday before facing Northwestern Sunday and Monday.