The baseball team overcame an early 6-0 deficit Wednesday afternoon to defeat Greensboro College 8-7 in eight innings.
Senior left fielder Mike King capped the rally with a one-out RBI double in the bottom of the eighth. Greensboro opened the inning with its third pitcher of the afternoon, who proceeded to plunk second baseman Michael Fletcher. After freshman Jordan Litrownik drew a walk on four pitches, junior shortstop Frankie Chiou bunted unsuccessfully, forcing out the lead runner. King then pounded a 1-2 pitch into right-center for a double, scoring Litrownik with the winning run.
"He came at me with two outside fastballs to start," King said. "Then he threw a change-up to the outside corner that I really got a hold of. I was just trying to protect [the plate]."
The win upped the Blue Devils' record to 3-0 and dropped Greensboro to 0-1.
Greensboro jumped on Duke starting pitcher Clayton Connor in the first with three runs. After a relatively calm second, Connor was knocked out of the game, surrendering three more runs in the third on a barrage of singles. He was replaced by sophomore righty Richard Dishman. Duke struck back in the bottom of the third, starting with a leadoff homer from freshman third baseman Jeff Becker. The solo blast marked the first hit of Becker's college career.
The Blue Devils finished the inning by scoring two more runs on RBI singles by King and catcher Gregg Maluchnik. The fourth inning saw Duke add another run after a leadoff walk by Becker, and the Blue Devils grabbed the lead with a three-run homer in the fifth by freshman John Benik. After Marc Ludvigsen and Adam Geis reached base, Becker launched a ball to deep left-center, only to have Greensboro centerfielder Jason Keppel rob him with a diving grab. Head coach Scott Rash had seen enough and lifted starting pitcher Terry Thomson for junior Geoff Horn, but Benik greeted Horn with a mammoth blast to left-center, giving Duke a 7-6 lead.
"I had a rough first two games," Benik said. "He fell behind and gave me a fastball. I just hit it hard."
Greensboro retaliated in the top of the sixth. Duke replaced Dishman with senior Craig Starman, who promptly surrendered a triple to Keppel down the right-field line. Shortstop Kevin Jackson drove in Keppel with a chopper past a drawn-in infield.
After a scoreless seventh, Duke inserted senior southpaw David Darwin, who struck out the side in the top of the eighth.
"Every game this year should be a real battle like this one," head coach Steve Traylor said. "We were fortunate to get to their starting pitcher. He's tough. There are several pro scouts here looking at him. It was great to see the freshmen come through. Becker really ignited us; he'll be a big player for us."
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