Mazur looking to bounce back
Adam Mazur has far exceeded the expectations Hawkeye fans had for him entering this season, as he has made himself into a serious contender to be selected in the first round of this year’s MLB Draft.
Mazur transferred to Iowa from South Dakota State and his breakout summer in the Cape Cod league has carried over to his time in Iowa City.
The redshirt sophomore has a 7-2 record on the season, including nine outings of 6.0 innings or more. He has impressed everyone with an astounding 0.97 WHIP, as well as 90 strikeouts to just 26 walks in 88.2 innings.
However, Mazur is coming off his worst outing of the season by far. The Indiana Hoosiers were all over him last Thursday and tagged him for nine runs on nine hits in just 2.0 innings.
“Every pitcher gets roughed up and that was my time to get that out of the way,” said Mazur. “I was happy that it happened before the Big Ten Tournament.”
Despite allowing nine runs, including three home runs, Mazur did not feel like he pitched poorly. He felt like he executed and hit his spots on most pitches, but the Hoosiers were just locked in and making good swings.
“I felt like they were just putting together good at bats and were finding the barrel on a lot of pitches,” said Mazur. “I was hitting spots pretty well for what was called, and they were just getting after it. Have to just tip the cap to them on that day.”
“I’m totally confident,” said Heller. “Indiana was really dialed in, but so were we. We scored 30 and they scored 16. It was just one of those crazy baseball things that happens. I know Adam’s confident and he’s ready to go.”
On paper, the Nittany Lions offense is just not on the same level as other teams that Mazur has faced this season. Penn State ranks in the bottom four of the conference in a number of categories. Also going in Mazur’s favor on Wednesday, is that the Hawkeyes did not face Penn State during the regular season. The Nittany Lions are one of just two teams in the Big Ten Tournament field that did not face Iowa this season and Adam thinks that can play in his favor.
“I feel like it’s big. They haven’t seen my stuff yet. They’ve seen video, but I feel like in game and in person is a little bit different,” said Mazur.
“We’ll have a really good plan and Adam has been exceptional all season at executing the plan,” said Coach Heller. “That is a big reason why he has had the success he’s had. Not only because he has great stuff, a great arm and competes, but he has the ability to go out and execute a scouting report and attack hitters at their weaknesses.”
With the tournament opener against Penn State set for 9:00am, it is a start time that the Hawkeyes and Mazur are not accustomed to. It is not a huge change, but the routine has to be amended to ensure that they are ready to go.
“Just getting to bed a little bit earlier the night before,” said Mazur. “Other than that, it’s just wake up, go to breakfast and just start your day from there.”
With Iowa sitting firmly on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament, each win they pick up in Omaha will be a step closer to get an at-large bid. Adam Mazur giving a good start and helping the Hawkeyes to a tournament opening win on Wednesday would be a big step in the quest towards a Big Ten Title and an NCAA Tournament appearance.