RALEIGH-The baseball team headed into its weekend series at N.C. State knowing that it would take the Blue Devils' best effort of the season to come away victorious. Duke got strong hitting, pitching and fielding in all three games, but came away with only one win to show for its efforts.
The Blue Devils outscored the Wolfpack 8-4 on Saturday, but fell 8-7 in 10 innings on Friday night, and 7-2 Sunday afternoon.
"We, for the most part, played good defense, we got good pitching-that's why I'm not at all discouraged," head coach Steve Traylor said. "That's what we've done all year and that's what we've been looking for. I think we played a great series. I couldn't have expected any better."
The series opened with a highly competitive contest that undoubtedly lived up to its billing. The Wolfpack appeared to be headed for a win in regulation, but the Blue Devils rallied in the top of the ninth to knot the score at seven. Down two, sophomore leftfielder Michael Fletcher and freshman shortstop Jeremy Horowitz each drew walks with one out and moved up a base on a wild pitch by N.C. State reliever Mike Cronemeyer. Freshman Jordan Litrownik came up with the clutch hit of the series for Duke by driving in both runners with a two-out single.
The Wolfpack scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the 10th when designated hitter Mandy Jacomino drove in centerfielder Tom Sergio by singling over a drawn-in infield with nobody out. Senior reliever Dave Darwin (7-1) got the loss for Duke while Mike Rambusch picked up the win in relief for State.
"We sure had every opportunity on Friday," Traylor said. "If we'd played a little better defense, or with a timely hit here and there, we certainly could have won that game."
Saturday, Duke was led by senior ace Scott Schoeneweis (7-2) who struck out seven and allowed only two earned runs over seven and two-thirds innings. Darwin closed out the game for his sixth save of the year. Horowitz and freshman third baseman Jeff Becker keyed the offensive attack as Duke posted 14 hits on the evening. Becker finished 3-3 with two RBIs, while Horowitz went 2-4 with three RBIs. Duke was also assisted by six Wolfpack errors in the field.
Sunday belonged to Wolfpack pitcher Brent Black (10-1), who went the distance, striking out 11 and walking none. State got on the board early with a two-run homer in the first by Jacomino and a solo shot in the second by leftfielder Chris Combs. The Wolfpack finally drove Duke starter Jim Wendling (1-2) from the game in the fifth inning on an RBI single by third baseman Matt Postell. Duke got on the board in the seventh on a two-run homer by freshman designated hitter Mark Ludvigsen.
"Today was their day," Traylor said Sunday. "We had the same amount of hits, but theirs were much more timely. They got a couple of long balls and every time they got someone in scoring position, they punched them across with a base hit."
Although Duke did not come away with the most favorable of results, it is still in the thick of the ACC race at 7-7. Its overall record fell to 31-9, while No. 22 State jumped over the Blue Devils into fourth place at 8-7.
"We didn't lose anything in terms of our play, and that's what we're looking for," Traylor said. "7-7 in this conference is very strong. Anyone who can stay at .500 in the ACC has probably played some very serious baseball and is probably under consideration for regionals. "
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