Tired of Duke's hitters getting all the attention, its pitchers decided to toss some zeroes onto the opposing team's scoreboard this weekend.
Allowing only three earned runs in 27 innings of work, the Blue Devil pitchers led the team (14-3) to four wins over the weekend at historic Jack Coombs Field. Duke dismissed Norfolk State 7-2 in a six-inning, rain-shortened game on Friday, defeated Campbell twice Saturday-first in the completion of an earlier suspended game 12-11, then 14-1 in the regularly scheduled contest afterwards-and finished off their weekend with an 8-2 smacking of Elon on Sunday.
"For the last 4 or 5 games, we've played really solid baseball," Duke coach Steve Traylor said. "We've gotten good pitching, we've played defense, we hit the ball, we've hit with people in scoring position."
Against Norfolk State, Gregg Maluchnik (.431, 22 RBI) slammed his third home run of the year to break a 2-2 tie in the fifth inning. Junior Michael Fletcher (.451, 26 RBI) followed Maluchnik with his third longball of the year to extend the lead to four.
Duke starter Richard Dishman (2-0, 3.80 ERA) garnered the win by pitching five innings, allowing two unearned runs on only two hits. Junior Jim Fishburn pitched a scoreless sixth inning before the game was called off due to rain.
In what was Duke's longest game of the season, both by innings and by time, the Blue Devils completed a comeback Saturday against Campbell that they started on February 12. Reserve infielder Jeremy Horowitz's double, chasing in Chase Russel in the 12th inning, ended the 408-hour marathon.
"That was a beautiful thing," Traylor said. "To have Jeremy Horowitz be in the game late and come through with a clutch hit because he was a vital part of our team last year. He's gone in there to do whatever we needed him to do."
Horowitz, a shortstop, started the game because regular shortstop Vaughn Schill started on the mound for the Blue Devils. The freshman (1.13 ERA) tossed three innings of one-hit baseball to pick up his first win of the year.
In the original contest, Campbell had led by as much as eight runs before Duke tied the game with a five-run ninth before darkness enveloped Jack Coombs field.
In Saturday's nightcap, the Blue Devils brought their bats and their arms. Junior Clayton Connor (2-1, 2.70 ERA) pitched seven innings in his first start of the season, allowing only three hits, one run, and got plenty of help from his offense.
Campbell starter Brad Tremitiere was roughed up for six runs in the first inning and was relieved after getting only one out. Schill (.459, 13 RBI's) paced the attack with four hits, and Fletcher and Adam Geis circled the bases with their fourth and second home-runs of the season, respectively.
On Sunday, it was obvious that the bats of the Elon Fighting Christians were enjoying their day of rest as freshman Brad Dupree cruised through eight innings, giving up only a monstrous home-run to Elon outfielder Tony Pigott, who lofted a prodigious shot into the woods behind left field in the ninth inning off Teddy Sullivan.
"I didn't feel like I was overpowering today, so I knew had to rely on the defense," Dupree said. "My defense did a good job out there."
Schill again led the hitting attack and extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a 3-for-5 day at the plate. Fellow freshman Ed Conrey also had three hits and collected two RBI's.
For the weekend, the Duke pitchers combined for an ERA of 1.00, a statistic made even more remarkable since the team's cumulative ERA before the weekend set was 4.10.
"[The pitchers] are keeping it down in the zone, and they were getting more pitches over than just their fastball," Maluchnik said. "When they are getting ahead in the count, and able to throw all three pitches for strikes, that's what attributed to the 1.00 ERA."
The team has one final tune-up against Appalachian State on Wednesday before its first ACC series against Wake Forest next weekend.
"We know we have the ACC's coming up next weekend," Dupree said. "As a staff, we're going to have to be tough. It's a great baseball conference, I know we are going to have to pitch our butts off."
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