For Chris Capuano, baseball doesn't get any more disappointing than last Friday afternoon at historic Jack Coombs Field.
Capuano struck out 17 batters in just seven innings of work, but the Blue Devils (26-10) fell 6-2 to the Elon Fightin' Christians (17-14) for only the fourth time in the two teams' 27 meetings.
"Chris Capuano threw a masterpiece-that make the whole day a lot worse," coach Steve Traylor said. "Anyone who competes that hard deserves to come away with a 'W.' That's discouraging."
Capuano showed his tenacity right from the start. After giving up a leadoff triple to Elon centerfielder Jason Simmons to start the game, Capuano struck out the next two hitters and got cleanup hitter Jason Deike, who would later hurt the Blue Devils, to ground out to end the threat.
Capuano then proceeded to strike out the side in the next three innings, with only two walks in between before a fly-out ended the parade of Ks. Unfortunately for Duke, its bats couldn't get going to support its pitcher.
Elon's ace, T.J. Donovan, matched Capuano's effort, not allowing his first hit until the fourth inning. In that frame, Donovan escaped a bases-loaded, no-out jam by striking out centerfielder Jordan Litrownik and catcher Gregg Maluchnik and getting second baseman J.D. Alleva to ground out to first.
In the top of the sixth, Elon finally broke on the scoreboard. After loading the bases on two walks and an infield single, Capuano thought he got what he needed-a ground ball right to third baseman Jeff Becker. Becker's throw, however, sailed wide of second base, allowing two runners to score.
After Duke chipped into the lead with a run on an RBI single from Litrownik in the bottom half of the same inning, Elon came back with three runs on three hits in the seventh. The rally was highlighted by a Jason Napier's beautiful squeeze bunt and Scott Brendle's RBI double.
"I don't think I got tired as much as I lost my mental focus," Capuano said. "I fell behind, and they got their bats on the ball."
Duke would score one more time in the eighth on an error by shortstop Brad Beeson, but Elon added the finishing touch to the game in the top of the ninth when Deike hit a mammoth home run off Duke reliever Clayton Connor into the trees in left field.
"It didn't look like a great effort by our team," Traylor said. "This isn't like basketball or football. You can't dive for loose balls or slap the floor to show effort. There were just too many routine plays being missed."
Capuano, however, didn't blame his teammates at all for the loss.
"I'm more disappointed in myself," he said. "You can 'K' twenty guys in a game, but if you don't get the win, you didn't get the job done."
Duke will be hoping to get the job done, and more, in order to make a late run at a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
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