CHARLOTTE -- The improvement of the Duke baseball team this season has been clearly demonstrated in its better record and the respect it is beginning to receive from the rest of the conference. In fact, this year, the Blue Devils' new-look team not only extricated themselves from the vaunted ACC tournament play-in game, but also earned themselves a date against preeminent national power Georgia Tech in the No. 4 versus No. 5 matchup.
However, yesterday, the Yellow Jackets, who recently received the services of All-American third baseman Mark Teixeira, proved that Duke is not yet ready to enter the upper tier of the ACC as they drubbed the Blue Devils 16-2 in the first-round contest. Paced by the play of shortstop Mark Lewis, who went 5-for-5 and scored three runs, Georgia Tech will move on to face top-seeded Florida State tomorrow, while Duke will face the Seminoles' victim, N.C. State.
"I knew coming into this game that Georgia Tech had something to prove," coach Bill Hillier said. "I know they are motivated to play well in this tournament, as we are. They pitched well and hit well."
Tech's solid hitting was especially apparent in the eighth inning, when they put the finishing touches on a Duke team that was already on the ropes, down 6-2. After Greg Burke walked Yellow Jacket outfielder Brad Stockton with one out in the inning, Georgia Tech exploded, scoring six runs and having eight straight batters reached base. Even when Duke recorded its second out of the inning, which came on a sacrifice fly by Stockton that made the score 14-2, the Yellow Jackets still managed to put up two more runs, further distancing themselves from the beleagured Blue Devils.
"Once one guy hits one hard, another guys hits one hard," said Georgia Tech coach Danny Hall. "The old saying is that hitting is contagious, and I believe that. We hit some really hard balls today [in the eighth inning]."
Of course, the Yellow Jackets did not do all their damage in the eighth inning; they built an early lead in the game's first three innings to set the stage for their domination. After Lewis got his first hit of the game, a single to left field, catcher Bryan Prince also singled to left which scored Lewis and gave Tech an quick 1-0 advantage.
Duke went scoreless in the top of the second inning, but then, Tech senior Jason Basil nailed his 14th home run of the season to left-centerfield on the first pitch of the bottom of the second.
Then, when the Yellow Jackets came to bat in the third inning, Prince pummeled a two-run shot which scored Lewis, who had reached base on a single to start in the inning.
"Any time you get runs from your pitcher early, it gives him a chance to relax and feel like every pitch is right where it needs to be. That's kind of what we saw today--Kevin [Cameron] did a great job and Burks coming in did a great job."
Meanwhile, the Blue Devils were unable to hit many hard balls of their own, scattering only six hits during the game. The lone bright spot was senior third baseman J.D. Alleva, who went 2-for-3 and drove in an RBI in the fifth inning, smashing a double off the wall in left-centerfield, scoring shortstop Kevin Kelly. Duke also struck in the top of the seventh, when Kelly hit a sacrifice fly to center which scored leftfielder Brian Patrick.
Despite the whipping they received yesterday, the Blue Devils' season is still alive, as they face N.C. State in the consolation bracket of the double-elimination tourney. And while Hillier was disappointed with yesterday's outcome, he remains optimistic about the general improvement of the Duke baseball program.
"I feel good about where we're going," the second-year coach said after the game. "I just don't feel too good about it right now."
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