The Blue Devils kept things in perspective after their three-game series with the nation's No. 3 team.
Despite losing two of three games to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets at Jack Coombs Stadium, Duke (17-20, 5-6 in the ACC) was not disappointed with its performance.
"We got one from them, and that's a big win for our program," said coach Bill Hillier, whose team defeated Georgia Tech 8-7 Saturday. "We're sitting with five conference wins and 17 overall. We've matched last year's win total. If we play well, we can get 10 or 11 wins in the conference. That would be a huge achievement."
While the weekend turned out well for the Blue Devils, it certainly did not start out that way.
The Yellow Jackets got out to a fast start, hitting two home runs in the top of the first Friday. They added a grand slam in the fourth en route to a 9-2 victory.
But Duke bounced back in the second game on Saturday.
The Yellow Jackets scored two in the opening frame, and a repeat of Friday loomed as a possibility.
But J.D. Alleva, who reached base eight times in the series, doubled in the bottom half of the inning and then scored on a double by Wes Goodner.
"You get into conference play, you see better pitchers," Hillier said. "Guys come at you more. You come at J.D.
Duke tied the game on a double by shortstop Kevin Kelly in the second, and took a 3-2 lead on a Goodner home run in the fourth. Duke added two more runs in the fifth, and then three more in the seventh to take an 8-3 lead.
The Yellow Jackets rallied to score four runs in the eighth, but Jeff Alleva nailed the game down in the ninth to pick up the save.
In a battle between two of the ACC leaders in victories, Kevin Thompson out-dueled Rhett Parrot. Thompson gave up three earned run in 6.1 innings, tying the Georgia Tech hurler for the conference lead with seven victories.
"Kevin Thompson has pitched awesome for us," Hillier said. "It's incredible to have a sophomore sitting up there at the top of the conference. We'd like to have a couple of people move up there with him."
Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, they were unable to capitalize on their momentum from Saturday's victory. The Yellow Jackets knocked off Duke 13-3 yesterday.
The game opened well for the Blue Devils, who scored three runs in the first on an RBI double by first baseman Larry Broadway and a two-run single by D.H. Drew Jerden.
The Blue Devils held the lead through three innings, but Ryan Caradonna came apart in the top of the fourth.
He walked the
Georgia Tech added two more runs and left the fourth ahead 4-3.
"I don't know what happened [to Caradonna]," Hillier said. "You know you're playing the No. 3 team in the country, and you know they're hitting .355 as a team. So sometimes you get a little cautious and instead of getting the ball over the plate you start missing by two or three inches. Then it starts snowballing."
In the bottom of the fifth, the Blue Devils loaded the bases with only one out. But Duke was unable to capitalize as Broadway lined out to first base and Jerden struck out.
"You could feel it in the dugout," Hillier said. "It knocked the wind out of us. You could tell by the way that their dugout reacted that it was big."
The Blue Devils did not get another good chance. The Yellow Jackets scored four in the sixth, three in the seventh and two in the eighth to take the 13-3 victory.
"We'll bounce back," Hillier said. "I told them they can't look ahead to Clemson, they've got North Carolina A&T on Wednesday. They may come in and play us like we played Georgia Tech."
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