Duke's baseball team was looking forward to a pair of easy series this weekend, as Princeton and Brown's baseball teams are certainly not ACC-caliber programs. And coming off of difficult series against Wake Forest and Virginia, the Blue Devils (9-16) saw the possibility of six wins.
However, Duke dropped yesterday's homestand opener 8-5 to the Princeton Tigers (4-8) at Jack Coombs Field.
"We just didn't play well," coach Bill Hillier said. "We're not pitching well, and we're not playing defense very well."
Princeton jumped on the board first. The Tigers opened the game with three consecutive singles off of Duke starter Ryan Caradonna, giving them a 2-0 lead.
"Ryan just didn't get off to a very good start," Hillier said.
But the Blue Devils responded in the bottom half of the first inning. Shortstop Kevin Kelly scored on a fielder's choice by first baseman Larry Broadway, and the Blue Devils cut the deficit to 2-1.
Princeton scored again in the top of the third on an RBI single by Pat Boran.
But Duke cut into the Tigers' lead when rightfielder David Mason brought Broadway home on a squeeze bunt to leave the score 3-2 after the fourth.
Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, that was as close as the score got.
Caradonna walked the first three batters to load the bases. With his starter having difficulties throwing strikes, Hillier went to the bullpen, bring in freshman reliever Justin Dilucchio. Dilluchio gave up a sacrifice fly to make the score 4-2.
With the bases loaded, second baseman Tim Phillips came to the plate. While Mason cheated toward center, Phillips hit a fly ball to rightfield. Catching the strong wind, the ball began hooking for the foul line, but it dropped in.
Three runs scored on the triple, and Phillips came home on a throwing error.
"Their kid hit a clutch [triple]," Hillier said. "The wind caught it. Mason tried to make the play, but he couldn't get there in time."
Hillier defended the decision to have Mason pull toward center with Phillips at the plate.
"He pulled his first two times up," Hillier said. "Dilluchio doesn't throw as hard as Caradonna. If the pitch hadn't caught the end of his bat, he would have pulled it."
The Blue Devils do not have time to dwell on the loss. Duke plays Princeton again this afternoon and tomorrow morning, followed by a Saturday afternoon game against Brown. On Sunday, Brown and Duke will square off in another double-header.
"We've got five games in the next three days," Hillier said. "We have a good chance to take all five. We have to play much better than we played today. I still consider us the favorite."
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