Baseball batted away by top-seeded FSU

Playing against a nationally ranked top-five team for the fourth time in a week, the baseball team probably could not have had high expectations Wednesday against third-ranked Florida State. But coming off a weekend in which they took one game from fifth-ranked Wake Forest--and almost won another--the Blue Devils led the Seminoles for six innings before falling 10-7 in the second round of the ACC tournament.

The team looks to keeps its season alive when it takes on Georgia Tech today at 10 a.m. in an elimination game. Tech (44-13, 14-9 ACC) is ranked 10th in the country.

Led by a strong start by sophomore pitcher Colin Begley--his first start of the season--the Blue Devils had a chance to put conference leader Florida State (52-12, 18-6 ACC) away early. Duke (24-33, 4-20 ACC) took a 5-0 lead in the first inning, sending starter Robby Read packing early. Freshman third baseman Grant Stanley hit a two-run double in one of 10 at-bats Duke had in the inning.

The Seminoles came back to tie the game in the seventh inning before taking the lead for good with five runs in the eighth.

"I thought we did a great job offensively, coming out, hitting the ball, putting five on the board and immediately putting pressure on them," coach Bill Hillier, who was ejected in the seventh inning, said in a statement. "I thought Colin did a great job. In a situation like that where you've got the [No. 3] team in the country in their home state, he did an unbelievable job."

The loss to Florida State, sitting atop a very strong ACC this year, puts the injury-shaken Blue Devils one step closer to the end of a season that will likely rank among the worst in recent school history. The only other years Duke has lost 33 games or more were 2000 (41), 1988 (35) and 2001 (33).

Duke made it to the second round by beating fellow ACC bottom-feeder Maryland 10-9 Tuesday. Junior first baseman Larry Broadway had three hits and three runs-batted-in as the Blue Devils squeezed by the play-in game.

In other action this week, the baseball team took one of three games from Wake. Sophomore Zach Schreiber pitched a complete game Saturday, giving up just two runs, for the sole win.