Baseball is a game of breaks, and Michael Fletcher found out Sunday that good breaks can make the bad ones a lot easier to take.
With Fletcher at the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning, Florida State closer Chris Chavez uncorked a wild pitch on a 1-2 count, scoring pinch runner Randy Goodroe from third base, and giving Duke (21-8, 4-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) a 4-3 win over the No. 2 Seminoles (23-7, 7-2). With the win, Duke snapped an eight-game losing streak against Florida State, and avoided a sweep in the three-game series.
Fletcher's luck-and Duke's-had not started quite so well at historic Jack Coombs Field. In the second inning, Seminole catcher Jeremiah Klosterman's low line drive to right field glanced off Fletcher's glove and over the fence for his fourth home run of the season and a 2-1 FSU lead.
From there, the Blue Devils proceeded to squander numerous scoring opportunities, managing just one run over the next five innings despite eight hits. Klosterman staked the Noles to a 3-2 lead with an RBI single up the middle in the fourth, and with Duke stranding eight runners in the first seven innings, it looked like that lead might hold up.
But in the seventh, the usually-reliable Chavez walked Fletcher on four pitches with the bases loaded, bringing in Jeremy Horowitz and tying the game at three. Meanwhile, Florida State could muster nothing at the plate after Klosterman's single.
Starter Richard Dishman combined with relievers Stephen Cowie and Vaughn Schill to retire the final 17 Seminole batters in order. Cowie, still recovering from an arm injury, took over with one out in the sixth and quickly set down all eight men he faced. Schill recorded a 1-2-3 ninth inning to pick up the win, improving to 3-0.
"For us, it was a great win," Duke coach Steve Traylor said. "We would have dropped to three games below .500 [in the ACC] with a loss today, and that keeps us at 4-5. That's a big difference."
Sunday's win came after a pair of discouraging losses to FSU, a 7-3 decision on Friday and an 8-3 drubbing on Saturday that Traylor deemed the Blue Devils' "worst game of the year-altogether." With the one victory over FSU, Duke capped a 4-3 spring break schedule that included taking a series from ACC foe N.C. State. The Blue Devils split a doubleheader with the Wolfpack-snapping their home winning streak at 16-before taking the rubber game decisively, 13-2.
"It was a great week for us," Traylor said. "You hope for more [than one win against FSU], but realistically, that is a team that probably won't lose a series this year. If you beat them once, you've probably done as well as you can do."
Florida State played long ball in the first game of the series, rocking Duke pitchers for a pair of two-run homers and another three-run blast. All-American center fielder J.D. Drew and left fielder Jeremy Morris chased Duke starter Clayton Connor with home runs in the first two innings, and third baseman Geoff Sprague added insurance with his bomb off reliever Brad Dupree in the ninth. Florida State ace Randy Choate improved to 7-0 with the win.
The Seminoles followed that power display with an opportunistic performance on Saturday, capitalizing on Duke mistakes to take another easy win, 8-3. Two wild pitches, a passed ball, a hit batsman and an error paved the way for FSU, which appeared poised for its second straight sweep of the Blue Devils.
"[After the first two losses], our goal coming into this game was to try to be fundamentally sound-which we really weren't-but we got a win out of it," Duke third baseman Jeff Becker said. "We got some breaks... but we'll take a win any way we can against Florida State."
Becker was 12-for-28 (.429) with four home runs over the break, while extending his team-high hitting streak to eight games with a single on Sunday. Not to be outdone, Schill has hit safely in his last seven games, and 21 of his last 22. The freshman shortstop has started all 29 games and reached base in 27.
Duke, which plays at East Carolina on Wednesday, was without starting second baseman Frankie Chiou for the fourth straight game Sunday. Chiou sprained his right ankle against N.C. State and remains day-to-day. Traylor hopes to have the senior back by Friday when the Blue Devils will travel to Chapel Hill for a three-game series with North Carolina.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.