Injuries to Alleva, Reid overshadow Duke's home-opening win

Unfortunately for Duke, the baseball games weren't the story this weekend.

Splitting a home-and-home series with UNC-Wilmington took a back seat to a bad injury report.

Two MRIs revealed that catcher J.D. Alleva will be out for the season and righthander Brent Reid could miss about a month. Alleva tore ligaments in his right elbow throwing the ball routinely from home to second base in Florida last Sunday. An MRI Friday showed the damage, and though Alleva played Saturday and had four hits, he opted for surgery now that will knock him out the rest of the year.

"It was just a normal throw from home to second, and my hand went numb," Alleva said. "I could either have surgery now and have a chance to play this summer in the Cape Cod League or else I could DH all this year. But then I wouldn't be able to play in the summer or fall. I didn't think it was worth it to just DH."

Reid has a cyst in his right elbow. He will pitch Tuesday and make a final decision Wednesday, though coach Steve Traylor indicated he'll likely have surgery and miss the next month. For such a young team, the news was particularly devastating.

"It really hurts us," Traylor said. "We knew coming in that we were going to be relatively young. It seems like we're just getting younger by the day. We knew who we were going to lose last year.... In essence, that's five starters from last year that we don't have right now."

Alleva played second base last season but moved to catcher this spring. He'll be replaced by Ed Conrey, whose only backup behind the plate now is leftfielder Dave Mason. Reid was slated as Duke's No. 2 starter behind Stephen Cowie.

"It's turned into the youngest team we've had here since '89," Traylor said. "We're going to remain upbeat and positive. We're going to have to be constantly aware of how inexperienced we are. Everybody's going to have to be patient. It's going to be something that's going to come and go."

"He was magnificent," Traylor said of DuPree. "He just faced nine hitters. To this point, that really hasn't been his style. He had great stuff, great location, great movement."

Seahawk hurler Anthony Kozol was given the loss after being shelled for five earned runs in only one and two-thirds innings.

The Seahawks salvaged a split in the series, however, by coming back from a 2-1 deficit with a two-run seventh inning yesterday. David McPherson led off the inning with a double to left centerfield. He advanced home when a bunt by Benji McIntosh led to a collision at first base. McIntosh, who advanced to third base on the play, then scored off of a double by designated hitter Stephen Grady. The Seahawks then notched an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning to finish the scoring.

A bright spot for the Blue Devils was starting pitcher Chris Capuano, who gave up only one hit and struck out six over the first four innings. Third baseman Jeff Becker and centerfielder Wes Goodner each went 2-for-4.

"It's early and the defense has been pretty sloppy," Traylor said. "It's not a great concern because we have great defensive players."

And on a weekend when the biggest news took place off the diamond, a few errors were far from Duke's biggest worry.

"It's been a funny start to our season," Traylor said. "I think [the young guys] have done very well. I still think we're going to be a very competitive team."

Next up for the Blue Devils is Elon, whom Duke hosts Tuesday at 3 p.m. at historic Jack Coombs Field.

Joel Israel contributed to this story.