Baseball hopes to build momentum with big upset

With only three wins in the past month, the Blue Devils will be striving to bring some success to its hard-pressed season. The Blue Devils got off on the right foot, though, when Duke defeated No.14 Clemson on May 5; however, it was unable to claim enough runs on either May 4 or May 6, when the Tigers prevailed.

As such, Duke (16-31, 2-18 in the ACC) will be pulling particularly hard tonight as it faces the top-ranked Florida State (44-8-1, 16-5) tonight at 7:00 p.m.

As this three-day series is the last of the season for both Duke and Florida State, fans are expecting to see Jeff Alleva, a senior RHP, start the game. Alleva, one of Duke's top pitchers, will be starting his 13th game of the season.

Unfortunately, those batting for the Blue Devils are planning to see Trent Peterson on the mound. Peterson will be starting his 16th game of the year with a 2.55 ERA. Matt Lynch, another possible FSU pitcher tonight, has also started 15 games, but fortunately for Duke, has only a 4.00 ERA.

Although Duke was able to keep Florida State at bay in their last meeting at Jack Coombs Field, Florida State has prevailed in the last four games of the series. Of course these wins did not come without the help of players like Eddy Martinez-Est, Blake Balkcom, and Tony Richie. Richie has managed 67 hits, and an amazing 10 homeruns, and Eddy Martinez-Est with a .367 batting average.

Fortunately for the Blue Devils, Brian Patrick has been showing promise with a .339 batting average and a total of six homeruns.

In the Blue Devil's win against Clemson on May 5, Patrick had one hit and one run. Like Patrick, Murray and Caradonna have both scored in all 47 games in which they have played.

The series will continue Friday at 7:00 p.m. and then finalize Saturday at 1:30 p.m. The series will be hosted at Jack Coombs Field.