The Duke baseball team righted its ship this weekend by taking two of three games against Atlantic Coast Conference foe Virginia. The Blue Devils halted a five-game losing streak by downing the Cavaliers 5-3 and 3-0 on Sunday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field.
It appeared that Duke was in for another long series on Friday when Olympic hopeful Seth Greisinger of Virginia came out and blanked the Blue Devils for the first six innings of the opening game. Duke was able to keep the game competitive, though, largely behind the pitching of sophomore Jim Wendling, who allowed only two runs over six innings for the Blue Devils.
Duke made an attempt at a comeback in the bottom of the seventh. Down 3-0, the Blue Devils came up with a couple of runs when freshman first baseman John Benik singled to score junior Adam Geis, the designated hitter. Greisinger made a bad throw to first on the play, which allowed freshman shortstop Jeremy Horowitz to score from second. Unfortunately, the Blue Devils would get no closer in the game, and Virginia held on for a 3-2 victory.
"We knew that first game, going against Greisinger, was going to be a tall order," Duke head coach Steve Traylor said. "But we stayed in that game and actually had a chance to win."
The elements played havoc with Saturday's contest. After a Geis home run knotted the score at two, the game was postponed due to rain in the bottom of the fifth inning. When play resumed on Sunday, Traylor was forced to ask his closer, senior David Darwin, to pitch more than his usual two to three innings.
"We said, 'Well, David's ready to go... let's see if we can get four innings out of him,'" Traylor said.
Thanks to the Duke bats, the game would eventually become Darwin's to lose. In the seventh inning, with Horowitz on third and pinch runner Randy Goodroe on first, Duke got a break. Jordan Litrownik hit a sharp grounder down the third base line which took a funny hop and went bounding through Virginia third baseman Brian Sherlock's legs. Horowitz scored, and Goodroe advanced to second. Junior second baseman Frankie Chiou stepped up next and drove a single to right field, bringing Goodroe across the plate.
Sophomore catcher Gregg Maluchnik would provide some insurance in the eighth. Maluchnik, who had doubled earlier in the game, stepped up and bashed a solo home run over the left field fence to put Duke ahead 5-2 going into the ninth inning.
Darwin was put to the test in the ninth. After giving up a double and a walk to Virginia's first two batters, Darwin was able to get a couple of outs on a fielder's choice and a fly to right. The Cavaliers were not ready to quit, however. Outfielder John Galloway rapped out an RBI single to cut the lead to 5-3, and a catcher interference on Maluchnik loaded the bases. Darwin sealed up the win by forcing UVa's Justin Counts to line out to center field. The win brings Darwin's record to a team-best 7-0.
In the seven-inning game that followed, Duke's Scott Schoeneweis put on an overwhelming pitching display to lead the Blue Devils to victory. Schoeneweis pitched a complete game shutout, striking out eight in seven innings. The senior lefthander allowed only three hits all day, two of which were infield singles. The Blue Devils scored a run in each of the first two innings, and then cruised behind Schoeneweis' arm to a 3-0 victory.
"The script couldn't have turned out any better for us," Traylor said. "We were hoping for Darwin completing one and Schoeneweis giving us a complete game. They're very effective pitchers for us, so that's what we wanted."
The Blue Devils' defense was especially impressive over the weekend. Duke committed only two errors in the series, while Virginia booted the ball six times. The series was closed out when Chiou made a spectacular diving catch on a hard line drive over the middle to tally the final out of the third game.
"I was very happy with our whole approach to the series," Traylor said. I thought we played smart, we played good defense, and we got good pitching, and those are the things that have gotten us to this point."
Duke will next play at North Carolina A & T on Tuesday afternoon.
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