By Gill Vesely

The Maryland Terrapins baseball team opened Big Ten play over the weekend with a three-game series against Iowa in Iowa City.

The Terps closed the stretch on a high note, topping the Hawkeyes 4-1 Sunday, but stumbled in the first two games of the series, losing 8-1 Friday and 4-1 Saturday.

Maryland’s Nick Cieri was responsible for the sole run batted in after going 3-for-4 from the plate in Friday’s contest. Mike Shawaryn picked up the loss on the mound for the Terps despite striking out eight. The Hawkeyes outhit the Terps 13-6 in the game, including three hits from Austin Guzzo. C.J. Eldred pitched all nine innings for Iowa in the matchup.

On Saturday, Taylor Bloom and the Terps held Iowa scoreless through seven innings, but a four-run eighth by the home team put it away. A Maryland error in the eighth led to a run for the Hawkeyes to tie it at 1-1. With one out in the inning, Tyler Peyton then singled to drive in two runs for Iowa. A sacrifice bunt by Jimmy Frankos scored another Hawkeye. Kevin Biondic homered for Maryland in the fourth, but that was the only form of scoring production the Terps would achieve on the day.

In the final game of the series, the Terps came out hungry for redemption, scoring three of their four runs in the first inning. Brian Shaffer pitched a complete game for Maryland, throwing an average of 10 pitches per inning and striking out seven in the win. Eric Schenck-Joblinske hit a home run to give the Hawkeyes their only run of the game. Hits from eight different Terps contributed to Maryland’s 11th win of the season and first against a Big Ten opponent.

Next up for the Terps is a home-field matchup against VCU Tuesday at 4 p.m.