Ferocious winds at historic Jack Coombs Field did not add any gusto to Duke's baseball team as it dropped its second game against UNC-Wilmington, 6-1, Wednesday night.
Although Duke was the first team on the scoreboard with one run in the second inning when Mike Miello drove in Drew Jerdan, action did not begin to heat up until the fourth inning.
The first hitter for the Seahawks, Kiley Vaughn, found himself heading back to the dugout after smacking a groundout to second base. This marked the high point of the inning for Duke, and UNC-W began to inflict offense damage.
Kevin Kelly, a Duke senior, could not catch Zach Harris' soaring ball in left field with the glaring lights shining in his eyes. Following this blatant error, which left Harris on second base, Jamie Hemingway singled to right-center field and allowed his teammate to find home plate. Brian Wright drove a double into left field to continue UNC-W's path of destruction. Magnus Pilegard projected the next ball into centerfield, allowing Hemingway and Wright to score.
Pilegard then advanced to second base as Duke's pitcher, Zach Schreiber, walked the next batter, Jason Schindler. UNC-W continued its offensive drive as Matt Poulk drove a single to left field.
However, on the same play, the Blue Devils finally registered an out when Schindler was caught at second base on a pinpoint assist from Duke catcher Troy Caradonna.
The Blue Devils finally breathed a sigh of relief when Schreiber struck out David McKenna to end the onerous fourth inning.
'With the exception of one inning, Zach threw very well for us,' Duke coach Bill Hillier said. 'He is getting more consistent.'
The Blue Devils could not muster any offensive edge for the remainder of the game.
The sixth inning threatened to plunge Duke deeper into the hole with two back-to-back doubles, which sent one runner home. Assistant coach Bill Hillier, Jr, headed out of the dugout to remove Schreiber. Kevin Perry then took over the command at the mound.
Larry Broadway, the second batter for Duke during the sixth inning, wacked a ball deep into left center. But with the strong winds, the ball did not find its way beyond the wall and was caught by the leftfielder, Hemingway.
The Seahawks retired the Blue Devils 1-2-3 in the final three innings.
'They sent three arms out there that shut us down offensively,' Hillier said. 'And that's a credit to them.'
Kelly committed an error to begin the seventh inning, which permitted UNC-Wilmington's David McKenna to go to first base. But McKenna was thrown out at second as Russ Simmerman lodged a ball directly at Perry. Perry stopped the Seahawks' threatening offense with two consecutive outs to end the first half of the seventh inning.
Perry was able to limit UNC-W to one more run for the rest of the game when Schindler blasted a home run in the eighth inning.
The lefthander was frustrated that Duke could not record the win. He said he believed the Blue Devils were the better team and felt that the players could not bring together their offense or defense.
'It just didn't get done,' Perry said. 'Sometimes you just can't explain things. That's baseball.'
Duke travels to Georgia Tech Friday to begin a three-game series. Although Georgia Tech has not been beaten at home this season, Duke hopes things will change during these competitive conference games.
'When we get into conference play, we have a tendency to play better,' Hillier said.
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