After a weekend in which the Duke baseball team was only able to muster seven runs in three games, the Blue Devils knew they would have to score more to break their five-game losing streak.
Sparked by a three-run home run by senior J.D. Alleva in the sixth inning and solid relief work from Zach Schreiber and closer Jeff Alleva, the Blue Devils (18-24) held on for a 13-10 victory over North Carolina A&T (17-25) at War Memorial Stadium in Greensboro.
The victory avenged a 17-15 loss to the Aggies only six days ago.
"We didn't play fantastic today and we definitely didn't play our best baseball last week," sophomore Doug Bechtold said. "It was kind of nice, though, after going on a losing streak the past week to get back at these guys."
However, for much of the game, the Blue Devils were in danger of facing a similar conclusion to last week's heartbreaker against the Aggies.
The Aggies went up early, knocking home five runs in the first two innings. Duke seemed to be suffering from many of the same problems that hampered them last Wednesday.
"It was very similar to the first game," Bechtold said. "Neither team was playing very sharp defensively-we had three errors, they had seven."
But after falling down by two runs, Duke's bats came alive in the sixth. With two runners in scoring position, J.D. Alleva hit a three-run smash to give Duke an 8-7 lead.
In the top of the eighth, with the contest tied at 8-8, pinch-hitter Scott Grossi closed out a momentum-changing inning with a double, scoring designated hitter Gideon Thompson and giving Duke breathing room at 12-8.
The Aggies rallied, but Jeff Alleva forced the final out of the eighth and retired the side in the ninth to secure the Blue Devils' victory.
Despite sloppy defense, coach Bill Hillier will take the win, which puts Duke over its total for last season.
"We needed this win after the last weekend we had," Hillier said. "We played... a lot of young people and I was pleased with how they came through to help us win this game."
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