Mike Shawaryn was back at his usual Friday night slot, facing sophomore LHP Taylor Lehman, who happens to be 1-7 on the year. On paper it was a mismatch, and on the field it turned out to be the same. The Unicorn pitched his first career complete game, limiting Penn State to one run on four hits. In the process, Shawaryn set new Maryland career records for strikeouts and closed in on innings pitched.
The Terps banged out 11 hits, and were helped by some poor fielding on the part of the B1G's worst team in that category. Kevin Smith collected three hits , and Madison Nickens had three rbis on a single and solo home run.
The Terps got on the board right away. Kevin Smith singled. Nick Dunn hit into a force out at second, but the throw to first was wild. Dunn took second and came home on a single by Marty Costes. Maryland scored two more runs in the top of the third. Zach Jancarski singled, went to second on a sac bunt, and then stole third. Jancarski scored on Smith's second consecutive single. A wild pitch sent Smith to second, and he scored on a failed pick-off attempt.
In the bottom of the third Shawaryn registered his fourth strikeout of the game, making him Maryland's career leader in strikeouts: the record of 272 was previously held by Steve Schmoll.
Maryland scored twice in the fourth to push the score to 5-0. Nick Cieri was HBP and Anthony Papio hit an infield single. Andrew Bechtold sacrificed the runners over, and both scored on a single by Madison Nickens.
Penn State finally scored in their half of the sixth. Shawaryn issued his first walk of the game to Nick Ruotto. Greg Guers doubled, and Ruotto scored when the next batter grounded out to Dunn. That was the lone run the Nittany Lions could get off Shawaryn.
Maryland added two more runs in the ninth. Madison Nickens crushed a ball over the right center field fence for his eighth home run of the year, tying him with Costes for the team lead. Smith followed with his third hit of the game, a double down the left field line. He went to third when Dunn hit a ball that the second baseman knocked down but had no real play on. Costes hit a deep fly ball that enabled Smith to score, making the score 7-1.
Shawaryn was on the bump in the ninth, looking for his first career complete game. He do so quickly, setting down the side 1-2-3, the last out coming on a strikeout. The Unicorn's final line: 9ip, 1r, 1er, 4h, 1bb, 6k, 106tp. Not only did he break Maryland's all-time strikeout record, but he in close to surpassing Chris Clem's team record 298.2ip.
Maryland is now 23-18 overall, 8-5 in the B1G. Shawaryn is 4-3 this year, tonight notching the program's best 28th career victory.
Three things to know:
1. The Unicorn is back, not that he ever left. Although having a few dicey starts this year, Shawaryn pitched well enough to win in other games, but the offense didn't support him. It seems like Shawaryn doesn't need much support as of late, allowing only a single earned run and just seven hits in his last 17 innings pitched.
2. The Terps are taking care of business. Tuesday night they out-slugged James Madison, and on Friday night Maryland outplayed State Pen(n) , also known as PSU. With tonight's win the Terps have a four game winning streak, and are getting hot at the right time.
3. Penn State's defense is shoddy. The Nittany Lions rank dead last in fielding in the B1G. In Friday's game, they continually shot themselves in the foot.