In their first outing of the weekend at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City, Iowa, the Terps fell short to the Iowa Hawkeyes, 6-2, after a high-powered strikeout performance from both starting pitchers. The Hawkeyes (16-10) took the lead for good on a two-run double from Brendan Sher in the sixth to put them ahead 3-2. Maryland (13-13) struggled to convert its opportunities all night, leaving 12 men on base. 

Maryland’s run in the third broke the scoreless game with Matthew Shaw hitting a sacrifice fly to bring Chris Alleyne home after a steal of second and advancing to third on a wild throw, making it 1-0. The Terps added to their lead in the top of the sixth with Shaw driving in his second run as his single to center brought home Kevin Keister from second, pushing the lead to 2-0.

The Hawkeyes turned around their scoreless scorecard in the bottom of the sixth with their first run coming on a wild pitch from Sean Burke as Zeb Adreon scored from third. Determined to take the lead, Iowa turned around their lack of hitting, taking the lead on Sher’s double to bring in Brayden Frazier and Matthew Sosa, giving them the 3-2 lead. 

During the seventh, the Hawkeyes continued their persistence with Izaya Fullard and Peyton Williams scoring on two squeeze plays from Dylan Nedved and Adreon, making it 5-2. Topping their lead off, Williams singled to left field to bring in Ben Norman, for their final run of the game in the eighth.

In the loss, Burke’s pitching had some bright spots as he had 10 strikeouts, his third highest for the 2021 season. At 117 pitches and after holding the Hawkeyes scoreless into the end of the fifth, Coach Vaughn pulled him from the game after allowing three runs in the sixth. Burke struggled with his control, walking six and hitting two Hawkeyes with pitches. 

Trace Hoffman claimed the win, but starter Trenton Wallace set him up for success. Wallace pitched 4 1/3 innings topping off at 96 pitches and had nine strikeouts, lowering his season ERA to 2.57.

Reaching the beginning of the third inning scoreless, both teams struggled with clutch hitting. The Terps left a total of 12 men on base and had only one hit heading into the fifth. Iowa stranded ten men in the game, but made a huge turn around in clutch hitting in the sixth and on. 

Maryland was just 1-of-11 with runners in scoring position and 1-of-16 with runners on base. 

Alleyne has topped his personal stolen base record with three more stolen bases in the game as he has 16 steals thus far on the season. This was his third game in row with three steals, with the last two in the Terps previous matchups against Ohio State. His abilities on the bases have helped the Terps score plenty of runs this season. Coming into the season, Alleyne had 12 total stolen bases in three seasons at Maryland. 

Next up, the Terps will take on a doubleheader facing Iowa once again tomorrow at 2:05 P.M. and the Northwestern Wildcats at 6:05 P.M. for their second series in their last pod play of the season.