Sunday went very well for the baseball team as it won two very different games of a double-header against Temple (6-13) at historic Jack Coombs Field.
The Blue Devils (15-13) won the first game 1-0 and hammered the Owls in the second game, 13-2, after falling to Temple 3-2 Saturday.
Coach Steve Traylor was pleased with the team's performance.
"We played very well today," he said. "We obviously had great pitching. [Chris] Capuano was masterful in the first game, at a time when we really needed it after a gut-wrenching loss Saturday. That settled us going into the second game... where we had everyone in the lineup get hits when they mattered, with runners in scoring position.
In game one Capuano pitched all seven innings and shut out Temple. The Blue Devils' only run came in the first inning. Vaughn Schill led off the inning with a single. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third on a wild pitch. Ryan Caradonna got the game's only RBI on a fielder's choice groundout to the second baseman.
Game two bore little resemblance to the first, as the pitching duel was replaced by a Duke offensive explosion. The Blue Devils opened the game with a six-run first inning and scored again in the third on an RBI single from Schill.
The game was blown completely out of reach in the sixth inning when the Blue Devils produced their second three-run inning of the game. Wes Goodner and John Benik had RBI doubles to leave the score 13-2.
While there was much to be pleased about, perhaps the best news for the Blue Devils was the return of pitcher Brent Reid. Reid pitched 2 1/3 innings and was charged with one earned run.
Traylor was happy with Reid's return performance.
"Reid had elbow surgery five or six weeks ago," he said. "This was the first time he's been cleared to throw in a game situation. We had a pitch count of thirty he was going to be limited to, and that was a great outing for him."
The only downside for Duke this weekend was a 3-2 loss Saturday. The Blue Devils led Temple 2-0 entering the ninth inning only to give up three runs. Stephen Cowie had started the game and dominated throughout before hitting a batter then giving up three straight hits to leave the score tied 2-2. Teddy Sullivan came in and gave up a base hit and the game-winning sacrifice fly.
Traylor did not second guess his decision to leave starter Stephen Cowie in to start the ninth.
"Cowie's strongest inning was the eighth when he struck out two," he said. "He was throwing the ball great and had only thrown 80 pitches. It was his game to lose. We brought Teddy Sullivan in to try to save it and he didn't get that done."
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