In yet another heartbreaking loss, the baseball team (7-4) fell to UNC-Wilmington (4-6) Wednesday afternoon. Though the Blue Devils jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning, the Seahawks answered in the third with five runs. Duke kept the game close, but with a one run lead in the seventh, the UNC-W scored a pair of unanswered runs, winning the game 9-8.
"It was a rough loss," Mike Miello said. "It was going back and forth for so many innings, and we couldn't come out with a win. It's not the greatest feeling to leave the park after a game like that."
In the first inning, Jonathan Anderson led off for the Blue Devils and ripped a line-drive down the left-field line. The centerfielder, who has yet to be caught stealing second, took his first of three stolen bases yesterday. With Anderson on second and two outs, Tim Layden, batting .385 for the season, singled through the right side of the infield and drove in Anderson from second. Then Adam Loftin doubled to right-field and reached third on an error, scoring Layden and Miello, who had singled in the previous at-bat. With the early lead, the Blue Devils struggled at the plate, playing three innings without a single hit.
The Seahawks came back in the third, scoring five runs off of as many hits. UNC-W's Aaron Smith singled through the left side off Duke starter Zach Schreiber. The number-three batter, Matt Sutton, took Schreiber long with a home run over the rightfield fence. First baseman Jon Davis doubled and Jonathan Batts drove him in as Blue Devil second baseman Bryan Smith overthrew the ball to first. One out and two runs later, Schreiber was relieved by David Torcise.
"As for my performance, it was not my best," Schreiber said. "I battled as much as I could, but just couldn't come out with a win. However, I thought the hitting was really good. It kept us in the game, and we had a couple lead changes with them; but ultimately we couldn't pull it out in the end. We struggled in pitching today, but we hit well."
Even though Duke trailed UNC-W, the team continued to find success at the plate, scoring two runs in both the fifth and sixth innings. Both teams were producing offensively, and the game was tied at seven after six innings.
With the bases loaded and one out in the seventh, J.J. Koterba came to the plate and reached first on a fielder's choice. Layden, who walked to begin the inning, scored and gave the Blue Devils a one run advantage.
However, the Seahawks immediately answered in the bottom of the inning. UNC-W's John Raynor bunted and was called safe at first. Smith doubled down the left field line, and Raynor scored the tying run. In the subsequent at-bat, the Seahawk's scored the eventual winning run off a double by Sutton.
The team's four losses have all been extremely close; all have been one-run losses and two were in extra-innings.
"[Losing such close games] is tough to take," Anderson said. "But towards the end of the season, when we play the ACC, these games will help us out a lot because eventually we'll come out on the winning side. We just have to figure out how to win those close games. Once we have the confidence to win them, we'll win them all."
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