The Duke baseball team entered Sunday's matchup against Radford looking to complete a three-game weekend sweep and push its winning streak to five games. Instead, the Blue Devils (7-4) walked off Jack Coombs Field frustrated and disappointed after a 4-2 loss, having wasted numerous opportunities to take control of a very winnable ballgame.
After posting come-from-behind wins Friday and Saturday against the Highlanders (2-4), Duke could not overcome its sloppy fielding, poor baserunning and lack of clutch hitting Sunday, as it failed to capitalize on yet another strong outing by freshman Tim Layden.
"We put ourselves in a situation [to win], but I thought we gave the game away," coach Bill Hillier said. "To me, that was ugly baseball on our part.... It puts a damper on the weekend."
The game was lost in the top of the first inning. Radford scored three runs on three hits, a walk and an error, putting Duke in an early hole.
From this point on, Layden cruised, shutting down the Highlanders for the next five innings before being relieved by sophomore Justin Dilucchio to start the seventh. At the plate, however, Duke squandered multiple opportunities.
Larry Broadway got Duke on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first with an RBI single, and added another RBI single in the third. In that inning, however, Duke managed only one run after loading the bases with nobody out.
In the sixth, down 3-2, the Blue Devils put runners on second and third with one out, but were unable to tie the score. Doug Bechtold appeared to tie the game with a sacrifice fly, but Smith was thrown out at third before Kevin Kelly crossed the plate, negating the run.
Radford plated an insurance run in the seventh, as Smith booted a routine grounder with a runner on third and two outs.
Down 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Duke brought Larry Broadway to the plate with two outs and two runners on base. This time, Broadway was not able to deliver, grounding out to second base to end the disappointing game.
Saturday, Bechtold culminated a three-run, eighth-inning rally with a two-run double, leading Duke to a 5-3 comeback win. The previous day, it took a six-run, sixth-inning rally for the Blue Devils to top Radford in a high-scoring affair.
However, it was Sunday's loss, not the encouraging wins Friday and Saturday, that will linger in the minds of the Blue Devils as they approach the beginning of ACC play.
"In order to be an upper-echelon ACC team, you can't go out and make little mistakes," Hillier said. "We'll bounce back, we know tomorrow's a new day."
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