After six scoreless innings, with his team down one run, senior Brian Patrick rounded the bases, evening up the score and bringing Duke firmly back into the game. How did he feel?
"Good," he said. "But I knew that there were more runs to come."
His premonition proved accurate, as Duke (8-6) used a seventh-inning scoring barrage to propel itself to a 5-1 victory Monday over the Albany Great Danes (0-3) at Jack Coombs Field.
Patrick and sophomore Tim Layden opened up the inning with back-to-back doubles, knotting the game at one-one. Then, with one out, up came Brian Hernandez, the freshman who passed up on a spot with Milwaukee Brewers this summer to play for Duke. Hernandez singled, giving Duke a 2-1 lead. The Blue Devils would not trail again.
"Hernandez did a good job today," Patrick said. "I'm glad he came through for us. He's doing great, he's being real competitive at the plate. Without a doubt, he's going to be a good player down the road."
The Blue Devils added two more runs in the seventh after a Grant Stanley single and a throwing error charged to Albany starting pitcher Adam Kroft. Additional insurance came in the eighth, as senior Troy Caradonna singled in Tim Layden to finish the scoring.
Until Duke blew the game open in the seventh, starting pitchers Croft and Drew Jerdan both put on impressive performances and the game looked to be a pitcher's duel. Jerdan gave up three hits and no earned runs in six innings pitched. Blue Devil righty Sophomore Blake Walker pitched three scoreless innings in relief and earned the win.
"Our pitching today was great," Hernandez said. "Drew and Blake were awesome."
Jerdan and Walker continued an impressive run of Duke pitching, coming off Kevin Thompson's near-miss of a perfect-game Sunday.
"I wasn't really thinking about it," said Jerdan about his feelings on following Thompson's performance. "I was just trying to focus on today. I felt good.... It was good to be out there throwing strikes."
Duke coaches and players took pains to dispute notions that they might be struggling offensively.
"I think offensively, we're hitting the ball hard, but right at people," said Hernandez. "I think that's been our problem all season, that we just can't find the holes."
Baseball returns to action today against Albany at the same bat place and same bat time.
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