No. 20 baseball sweeps Georgetown, Norfolk St. to move to 9-0

The baseball team could practically run a clinic on putting things off until the last minute.

The undefeated Blue Devils broke out of a mid-game slump and scored five runs in the eighth inning en route to defeating Georgetown Sunday, 7-2, for their fourth win in as many days at historic Jack Coombs field.

In the decisive eighth inning, designated hitter Ed Conrey walked and outfielder Wes Goodner doubled to set up second baseman J.D. Alleva's RBI single. After walking first baseman John Benik, reliever Ben Becchetti replaced losing pitcher Derrick Pines (0-1) on the mound. Becchetti fared no better, though, as outfielder Jordan Litrownik drew a walk, forcing Goodner across home plate. Subsequently, shortstop Vaughn Schill's base hit brought in Alleva and Benik. Litrownik scored on third baseman Jeff Becker's sacrifice fly to close the scoring.

"Our offense started slow in most of the game and picked up near the end," winning pitcher Brent Reid said. "The fact that we're able to get up late in the game and come back and score those runs and win; the fact that we could come back after being down for so long was a big boost for the team."

Duke's bats came alive largely in part due to Georgetown's ineffective bullpen. Hoya starting pitcher, Randy Erwin, held the No. 20 Blue Devils (9-0) to one run on four hits in six innings. Erwin had in fact been heavily recruited by Duke but signed with Georgetown (0-2) instead. When Pines replaced him to begin the bottom of the seventh, the Blue Devils immediately took advantage of the change, as Becker hit a single to send Litrownik home and tie the game at 2-2.

"It was a big factor," Schill said. "This guy came in, he was a little bit wild, a little erratic in the zone, and we put a couple guys on base and we took advantage of that. We jumped on him a little bit."

Before the tying run, Duke struggled through four scoreless innings, having notched its only run on Alleva's sacrifice fly in the second inning. The Hoyas struck in the third, scoring two on a Becchetti single that drove in second baseman Josh Corman and catcher Steve Buckley. Unaccustomed to trailing, the Blue Devils found the position discouraging.

"Sometimes in a game if we don't jump out to an early lead, if we're not right on their pitcher, our bats may be silent for four or five innings," Schill said. "That's just the way it was today."

The Blue Devils entered the series with Georgetown coming off a 10-2 blowout of Norfolk State on Friday. Goodner opened up the scoring with a two-run double in the second.

Outfielder Michael Fletcher went 2-for-4 with two RBI, including his second home run of the year. With Duke up 8-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Schill and Becker led off the inning with back-to-back homers, Schill's first and Becker's second of the year.

Jim Wendling (1-0, 2.00 ERA) picked up his first win on the season, allowing two runs and three hits and striking out three during six innings. Clayton Connor earned his first save this year, pitching three hitless innings to finish the game.

The Blue Devils will next host North Carolina A&T on Wednesday at 3 p.m. at historic Jack Coombs field.