The Duke baseball team defeated Old Dominion 10-4 at Jack Coombs Field on Tuesday afternoon. Keying the offensive surge was sophomore second baseman Michael Fletcher, who finished the day with four RBIs.
"I've been struggling this year, so it was nice to contribute towards the team today," Fletcher said.
Down 2-1 to the Monarchs in the bottom of the second inning, it was Fletcher's two-run double to deep center that gave the Blue Devils the lead for good.
The inning started off with a double by sophomore catcher Gregg Maluchnik, followed by a single by freshman third baseman Jeff Becker. After Monarch starting pitcher Marty Plank struck out one Blue Devil and walked another, freshman first baseman John Benik singled to rightfield, driving in one run. Fletcher followed with his double.
"I've stranded so many guys this year it's ridiculous," Fletcher said. "So I'm just happy to contribute. I was happy that we were able to bounce back after the loss to Campbell."
The inning continued when freshman Jordan Litrownik reached on a fielding error by ODU shortstop Tony Gsell. Senior Mike King launched a double to right bringing in two more runs and driving Plank out of the game. New Monarch pitcher Brian Brantley proceeded to surrender an RBI double to Maluchnik before getting out of the inning. All told, Duke put up seven runs on six hits for the inning.
From there on out, Duke pitchers did their part to preserve the lead. Starter Richard Dishman, a sophomore righty, settled down after giving up two runs in the second, retiring eight straight ODU batters before leaving in the fifth. Reliever Jim Wendling closed out the inning, but not before the Monarchs had managed to close the gap to 7-4.
The Blue Devils added an insurance run in the sixth on an RBI single by Litrownik, which scored freshman designated hitter Kevin Farmer. In the bottom of the seventh, Becker led off with a single and was followed by sophomore Adam Geis who lined a double to right-center. With two outs, Fletcher brought them both in with a single, giving him four RBIs on the day.
Senior David Darwin closed the game out for the Blue Devils, going the last two innings and striking out four. The win moved Duke to 7-1 on the season and dropped Old Dominion, who was nationally ranked during the preseason, to 6-4.
"We swung the bat well with people in scoring position-that was what hurt us against Campbell," head coach Steve Traylor said. "We played well defensively, and once again our pitchers all filled their roles effectively. Dishman gave us a good start, Jimmy Wendling, in the middle relief role, came in and kept us right there and Darwin came in and closed it out."
The Blue Devils only have five more games before the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule begins. Duke opens ACC play at home against Wake Forest on March 8.
"We're in the home stretch before our ACC games start, so we aren't really concerned with who we are playing," Traylor said. "We are just trying to get some consistency and keep playing the game the way we're playing it now."
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