It didn't begin as the best of Saturdays for Corey Slavik.
The Wake Forest backup catcher could only look on from the dugout as his teammates struggled against Duke starter Stephen Cowie and headed into the ninth inning on the verge of dropping a one-run decision. Slavik, however, would have been hard-pressed to dream up a better end to his day.
Slavik's pinch-hit line-drive RBI single off Duke closer Vaughn Schill in the top of the ninth sent the game into extra innings. One inning later, Slavik's single was part of a seven-run outburst that secured an 11-4 win for Wake (13-3, 2-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) and, combined with the Deacons' 6-4 win on Friday, a two-game series sweep of the No. 11 Blue Devils (18-3, 0-2) in the conference-opening series for both teams.
After hurling eight strong innings, Cowie (5-0, 2.74 ERA) headed to the mound in the ninth nursing a 4-3 lead and gunning for his second complete game of the season. After striking out Wake's Will Rikard to start the inning, the righthander surrendered a hard-hit double into the right field gap to Danny Borrell and was promptly lifted in favor of Schill.
"I don't question [lifting Cowie] at all," coach Steve Traylor said. "The question was whether to let him go out for the ninth. He was pitching extremely well. We were going to get him out with the first baserunner [he gave up], which was what we did.
"We have one of the best closers in the league to bring in. He gave up a base hit, that's just the nature of the game. There's nothing you can do about that."
Wake's starting catcher Andrew Riepe was due up to face Schill. However, Riepe had looked entirely befuddled in his three previous trips to the plate, striking out twice and grounding into a rally-ending double play in the second inning.
The left-handed Slavik pinch hit for Riepe and responded with a liner over the head of second baseman J.D. Alleva to bring in Borrell. The hit was only the third of the season given up by Schill, who had limited opponents to a .105 batting average.
After Wake Forest's ACC Pitcher of the Year candidate John Hendricks retired the Blue Devils in order in the bottom half of the ninth, the Deacons went to work in the 10th. With one out, the Deacons strung together four singles and a walk to knock out Schill and make the score 6-4 in their favor.
"[Schill] looked like he had good stuff; he was throwing the ball hard," Cowie said. "None of their hits were hit hard; they were all little nubbers off the bat that just fell in there. That's just the way it goes. I don't think he pitched bad."
Righthander Brad Dupree replaced Schill and immediately surrendered an RBI single to Slavik, making it 7-4. Wake second baseman Sunny Chiou-the brother of former Duke standout Frankie Chiou-followed by ripping a Dupree offering well over the right-field fence for a grand slam and an 11-4 final margin.
Friday, the Deacons jumped out to a 4-0 lead early against Duke starter Jimmy Wendling (3-1, 5.04 ERA). The Blue Devils were able to trim the lead to 5-4 on the strength of a pair of two-run singles from Jeff Becker and Michael Fletcher but could not get any closer. Showing his usual sharp control, Hendricks (5-0, 0.97 ERA, 36 K, five BB) sat down all nine Blue Devils he faced to record his first save of the season.
"I think he is the best pitcher in the league," Traylor said. "He probably doesn't have the best stuff as far as velocity and all. But I think if you talk to the coaches in the league, and [tell the coaches] you could pick any pitcher off somebody else's team, I think most of us would take him."
Hendricks also pitched the final three innings Saturday to pick up the win
"I'm just disappointed in the way [the second game] ended," Traylor said. "I thought we played well [Friday], and we played well into the ninth inning [Saturday]. We thought we would have two close games, and if we could've finished out the ninth inning, we would've had exactly that."
Note: Sunday's game against Wake Forest scheduled for 1 p.m. was rained out and will not be made up.
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