Baseball coach Steve Traylor's prayers for a solid pitching staff may finally be answered. While improving their team's record to 5-0, freshman pitchers Vaughn Schill, Brad Dupree and Chris Capuano were godsends in the Blue Devils' sweep of Navy in a doubleheader Sunday at historic Jack Coombs Field. Duke downed Navy 7-5 in the first game and 2-0 in the second. The Blue Devils also defeated Norfolk State Friday, 2-1.
Dupree and Capuano combined their talents for a two-hit shutout of the Midshipmen (0-2) in the second game of the doubleheader. Dupree pitched four innings, striking out two and giving up only one walk and one hit.
Relieving Dupree in the fifth inning, Capuano dominated Midshipmen batters for his second win, pitching six strikeouts and giving up only one hit and two walks.
"It's so encouraging to put two freshmen out there against a good-hitting team," Traylor said. "To have our freshmen go out and really pretty much hardly give them a life in the second game... the pitching was outstanding."
Run support came in the fifth inning when freshman Ed Conrey smacked a double to right-center field. Junior Adam Geis gave Duke a 1-0 lead three batters later, when he pulled the ball to deep left field for a double, scoring pinch runner Randy Goodroe. Sophomore Jordan Litrownik followed by driving in Geis on a single to right-center.
After getting the save and an RBI single in Friday's win over Norfolk State, Schill was called in from shortstop to pitch in the sixth inning of the first game. He held on for his third save of the season, giving up four hits and one run, and fanning three batters. Schill also went 2-for-3 from the plate, adding a single to the Blue Devils' second-inning rally.
"I'm starting to get used to the college pitching. I'm getting adjusted." Schill said. "I'm more confident in the box definitely."
Junior catcher Gregg Maluchnick led off the seven-run second inning with a walk, followed by consecutive singles by junior Michael Fletcher and freshman Ed Conrey, who scored Maluchnick. A sacrifice fly by senior Jeff Staubach scored Fletcher, and Conrey scored on Schill's single.
Geis sent Conrey home with his single, and Litrownik followed Geis with a single to load the bases. Schill then scored on a walk by senior Frank Chiou.
With the bases still loaded, Becker singled in both Geis and Litrownik, and Maluchnick drove in the last run of the inning with a sacrifice fly.
"That was a lot of hitting with people in scoring position," Traylor said. "One after the other."
Navy tried to fight back the rest of the game, scoring Toph Lake in the fourth on an error by third baseman Jeff Becker and scoring three more in the sixth on singles by Nate Paukovits and John Schroder.
A botched double play in the top of the seventh inning scored Navy's Tony Mauro, narrowing the lead to 7-5, but the Midshipmen could not manage any more runs, giving the Blue Devils the win.
Sophomore righthander Stephen Cowie started and pitched four innings in Sunday's first game to get the win for Duke, giving up two hits, one run and one walk, and throwing three strikeouts.
NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Roger Staubach looked on as his son, Jeff, played against his alma mater. Despite the conflicting loyalties, the former Heisman Trophy winner had no doubt where his allegiance lay.
"Blood loyalty's more important than my alma mater," he said.
Richard Dishman got the win for the Blue Devils on Friday against Norfolk State. Schill and Fletcher led the Blue Devils at the plate with RBI singles.
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