As if it needed proof, the Duke baseball team found out this weekend that momentum does not win any ballgames.
Fashioning an 8-0 record going into the Winn-Dixie Showdown at the Louisiana Superdome, the 29th-ranked Blue Devils came away empty-handed from the three-game series. No. 20 Tulane (4-0), New Orleans (3-2) and defending national champion and eighth- ranked Louisiana State completed the sweep of Duke (8-3) with 14-10, 7-4 and 9-8 decisions, respectively.
"Obviously, we're leaving here 0-3, that's not good," Duke coach Steve Traylor said. "But it was a very good trip for us. We learned a lot about ourselves, we grew as a team. It was a very positive experience for our baseball program to be here and be that competitive with this caliber of baseball teams."
In Friday's contest against Tulane, Duke found itself in an unfamiliar situation as it trailed 10-1 after five innings. The Green Wave jumped on Duke's freshman starter Brad Dupree for seven runs in three innings.
The Duke bats, on the other hand, did not come alive until the seventh inning. Freshman Ed Conrey and senior Gregg Maluchnik each belted their first longballs of the season as the team scored eight runs in the final three frames, but they could not make up the 10-run deficit.
Freshman Chris Capuano took the first starting assignment of his collegiate career Saturday against the New Orleans Privateers. Despite giving up 10 hits, Capuano kept his team in the ballgame by allowing only four runs in nearly six innings of work.
"[Capuano] was outstanding," Traylor said. "He threw very well and showed great composure in a tough environment."
However, Capuano's mound opponent, Jason Faust, was even stingier as the Blue Devils mustered only two runs off of him in eight innings. Down 4-2 going in the final inning, Maluchnik belted his second homer of the series to tie the game at four.
In the bottom half of the inning, defensive letdowns proved to be Duke's undoing. After two outs, third baseman Jeff Becker bobbled a routine grounder that allowed reserve first baseman Frank Torre Jr. to hit with two outs and two teammates on base. Junior Clayton Connor, who had pitched two effective relief innings up to that point, gave up the game-winning home run to Torre.
"[Defense] is an area where we just have to keep playing and keep improving," Traylor said. "We're going to be a good defensive team, and we'll start winning games like this."
To Traylor's chagrin, fielding miscues continued to plague Duke the next day against LSU. The Blue Devils actually led the Tigers 4-2 in the fifth inning, until Vaughn Schill's error paved the way for six Tiger runs in the fifth inning off Duke starter Richard Dishman. After Dishman left the game, sophomore righthander Teddy Sullivan managed to keep the Tigers at bay for the next four innings, until Duke staged another ninth inning rally.
The team parlayed two hits, three walks, and one hit-batsman into four runs against three different LSU relievers, and like the previous day, sent the game into the bottom of the ninth deadlocked.
However, for the second straight day, the Blue Devils surrendered a game-winning gopher ball with two outs in the last half of the ninth. Brandon Larson capped off his spectacular day with his third home run, prompting a frenzied celebration with his LSU teammates on the field.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.