Hannaway leads baseball to 12-6 rout of Aggies

When an undefeated team plays a winless team, the contest usually becomes more of a showcase than a game.

That's exactly what happened yesterday when three Duke freshmen took center stage in leading the No. 23 Blue Devils (6-0) past the hapless North Carolina A&T Aggies, 12-6, at historic Jack Coombs field.

Starting pitcher Patrick Hannaway cruised to the win with six strong innings, and outfielder Wes Goodner and second baseman J.D. Alleva provided the offensive fireworks to keep the Aggies (0-4) searching for their first win.

"Patrick Hannaway gave us another good start," Duke coach Steve Traylor said. "We're six for six on [quality] starting performances, so we've been real happy with that."

Aside from some brief bouts with wildness, Hannaway was nearly unsolvable on the mound. The 6-foot-4 right-hander from Staten Island, N.Y., gave up only four hits in six innings of work while striking out five. The only blemishes on Hannaway's (1-0, 0.00 ERA) line were two unearned runs that crossed the plate on shortstop Vaughn Schill's two-base throwing error.

"I'm feeling pretty confident," Hannaway said. "They weren't like a Notre Dame [Duke's opponent in Hannaway's first start]. I'm sure they are not as good as any of the [Atlantic Coast Conference] teams that we're going to play. It's still a good start for me. My [pitch] velocity still has a ways to go. Hopefully, I'm just going to keep developing my arm strength."

Catcher Ed Conrey (.304, 11 RBI) ripped a two-run homer in the fifth inning to give Duke a three-run lead. Two innings later, the Blue Devils sent 10 men to the plate and pushed six runs across to blow the game open. Included in that barrage was a RBI double from Alleva (.435, 3 doubles) and Goodner's first collegiate home run-a three run blast that made the score 11-2 in favor of Duke.

"[The homer] felt good off the bat," Goodner said. "I've been hitting the ball hard. Today, they finally started falling."