Right before yesterday's baseball game against Davidson, catcher Gregg Maluchnik's father told him that he was within three of the Duke career RBI record.
Shortly thereafter, Maluchnik sent the ball soaring over the left field fence of historic Jack Coombs Field with a grand slam that gave him the record and contributed to the Blue Devils' 17-2 victory over Davidson (7-26).
"That's one of the most prestigious records to break because it's meaningful," coach Steve Traylor said. "The most hits isn't meaningful. The most home runs isn't meaningful. The RBI record means you're helping your team and getting your team runs."
The grand slam came in the fourth inning with Duke (29-10) already up 4-1. Shortstop Vaughn Schill led off the inning with a bloop single over third base. Third baseman Jeff Becker followed with a double and Wildcat starting pitcher Fritz Porter walked both Michael Fletcher and Ed Conrey, bringing Schill home in the process. After Davidson changed to pitcher Garland Yarborough, Maluchnik stepped up to the plate.
"When I got up there I was just looking to drive the ball," Maluchnik said of his 12th homer of the season. "The first pitch was a fastball and I did what I was supposed to do. I realized I had broken the record while I was jogging around the bases."
Had his father not pointed it out to him, Maluchnik would have been clueless about the possibility of becoming the RBI leader.
"I'm not a big fan of keeping up with that stuff," he said. "I try not to set too many statistical goals."
For those who are counting, it was Maluchnik's 186th career RBI and his 41st this season. In becoming Duke's all-time leader, he passed Ryan Jackson, now the starting first baseman for the Florida Marlins.
On the mound, freshman Brent Reid (7-2) started for Duke, giving up four hits and six runs over six innings.
"Brent's thrown well for us this year," Traylor said. "He goes back and forth between our third and fourth starter. Today we were able to get him out of there with a low pitch count."
Traylor was also able to get several other pitchers into the game, namely Clayton Connor, Patrick Hannaway and Jim Wendling.
"[Hannaway] had a great inning for us," Traylor said. "Any time we can get him out there for an inning we want to do that."
In the last three days, the Blue Devils were able to practice their fundamentals in their thrashing of the Wildcats and their 10-2 and 10-3 wins over St. Andrews and Guilford, respectively.
"We've played solid fundamental baseball this week, and that's been our focus," Traylor said.
Such fundamentals will be essential when fifth-ranked Clemson comes to Jack Coombs field for three games this weekend.
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