Despite a flat start, the baseball team was able to come from behind with the help of a strong seventh inning to beat North Carolina A&T on Thursday afternoon, 12-5.
Consistent pitching helped the Blue Devils (9-2) overcome the Aggies, whose relief pitchers were not nearly as effective as their starting pitcher Cory Lima, who was taken out of the game after throwing over 100 pitches. Duke's hurlers, on the other hand, combined to strike out 10 and walk one.
"[Lima] was very effective against us and we were struggling big time," said Duke head coach Steve Traylor.
The Aggies scored one run in the first inning. Duke evened the score in the top of the fourth, only to have A&T go up 2-1 in the bottom of the inning. The Blue Devils then scored two runs in the fifth and another in the sixth to go on top 4-2.
Duke blew the game open with a six-run extravaganza in the seventh inning--two triples knocked in five of its runs. Despite scoring runs in the seventh and ninth innings, the Aggies were unable to crawl back into the game.
Only three of A&T's five runs were earned. A key throwing error brought the Aggies to within one run in the sixth inning at 4-3 when Duke catcher Gregg Maluchnik overthrew third base on a stolen base attempt. The overthrow allowed the A&T baserunner to score.
Traylor said the early Blue Devil difficulties may have stemmed from a lack of respect for A&T going into the game.
"Maybe we were not giving them as much respect as we should have," Traylor said. "I don't think we were ready to play."
Nonetheless, the team showed fortitude in their come from behind win, he said.
Senior right fielder Luis Duarte led Duke's hitting, going 2-for-4 with a two-run triple in the seventh, while junior first baseman Mike King and Maluchnik each had one RBI, going 3-for-5 and 2-for-3, respectively. Also, freshman left fielder Adam Geis drove in three runs with a bases loaded triple.
Senior shortstop Jeff Piscorik provided Duke's second home run of the season with his only hit of the day.
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