The baseball team discovered there is just a fine line between winning and losing this weekend.
After routing No. 4 Florida State 14-5 on Friday, the Blue Devils (20-9, 2-7 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) lost two straight to the Seminoles at Jack Coombs Field Saturday and Sunday. Both games were four-run contests that could have gone either way.
"When we look back after this series, we're going to say, `We could have won all of these games,"' freshman center fielder Adam Geis said. "With a play here and there, we could have swept these guys or at least won two out of three."
Sunday afternoon the Blue Devils left nine men on base and outhit FSU (23-7, 5-3 ACC). However, the game may very well have been decided in the bottom of the seventh inning. With the bases loaded and one out, the Seminoles brought in reliever Chuck Howell. Howell, last week's ACC Pitcher of the Week, struck out shortstop Jeff Piscorik for the second out of the inning.
First baseman Mike King strode to the plate with Duke still trailing 5-1. After working the count to his favor, King hit what appeared to be a solid single between first and second base. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, as the ball traveled through the infield it struck pinch-runner Randy Goodroe for the third out. That ended the inning and killed Duke's best scoring chance of the game.
"We certainly had chances to win the game today," Blue Devil head coach Steve Traylor said. "We had a couple of bad breaks. When Randy [Goodroe] got hit--that's just a bad break. There's nothing he could have done about that, it's just a bad break. That whole game changed on that play. It would have been a 5-3 game with runners on first and third and our three and four hitters coming up."
Duke again had a chance to climb back into the game in the eighth inning. With two outs and one run already in, Blue Devil designated hitter Jeff Staubach batted with runners on first and second. He hit a high chopper to second base but was unable to beat the throw to first, and the inning ended.
FSU tacked on a homerun in the top of the ninth for a 6-2 final score, which marked the end of a disappointing series for Duke.
"You want to find out how competitive you are against a top-five team, and obviously we're very competitive," Traylor said. "We've got a good baseball team. We didn't even come close to playing our best baseball."
That was evident on Saturday, when the Blue Devils committed four errors, walked 12 and hit three batters. Despite all of those negatives, Duke only lost the game 9-5. The difference came in the form of seven Seminole runs in the fifth inning.
Duke errors led to an FSU scoring fest, as all five runs that Blue Devil starter Craig Starman gave up in the fifth were unearned.
"[Saturday's game], I don't want to say that we gave it away because I'm sure [FSU] felt like they deserved the game," Traylor said. "But we made some crucial errors, walked 12 and hit three, and we still ended up in only a four-run game. It was just a lack of execution that kept us from being able to win it or Sunday's game."
The series started on an impressive note for the Blue Devils. They took the first game of the series in commanding fashion, 14-5.
Friday's stars were King and freshman left-handed pitcher Clayton Connor. King was 4-for-6 with four RBI, three runs scored, a double and a two-run homer. Meanwhile, Connor entered the game in the third inning after junior left-hander David Darwin began to struggle. Connor pitched over five innings, until freshman Jim Fishburn closed out the ninth. Connor got the victory for his work, improving to 6-1 on the season.
Traylor was happy with the team's performance this weekend, despite the fact that the Blue Devils dropped two of their three contests.
"We're a team that's just going to keep getting better," he said. "We're playing some inexperienced people, and they're some of our most productive players right now. There was no discouragement on my part to play Florida State the way we played them this weekend. We got a win, and had chances to win both of the other games. I think that bodes well for our team."
Another thing that bodes well for the Blue Devils is the continued improvement of junior left-handed pitcher Scott Schoenweis. Schoeneweis is rounding into shape after recovering from an injury. On Sunday he pitched six innings and gave up three runs--only two of which were earned. His continued improvement will give Duke yet another quality arm that it can turn to.
"I got out of the second inning, which was a very big plus because I've had two ACC starts and only pitched three and 2/3 innings so far," Schoeneweis said. "On the other hand, this was a tough one to lose because I thought that I was back to my normal self. I made one mistake that I'm really disappointed about, but overall I'm definitely pleased. I feel like I'm one step closer to my old self."
That is good news for a Blue Devil squad that has now faced arguably the three best schools in the ACC--Clemson, N.C. State and FSU. With perhaps an easier slate of opponents in the coming weeks, Duke is ready to turn things around and even up its ACC record.
"In all honesty, the three ACC teams that we've played are probably better than we are," Traylor said. "From now on, whether we win or lose will be dependent on our execution because we will not be out-personnelled or out-experienced or anything else.
"I think we will be very much on equal footing with every team from here on out. We can have a great year or a mediocre year depending on how we throw strikes and how well we play defense."
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