In the best attended game of the season, the baseball team took on No. 17 Eastern Carolina in front of a sea of purple and gold spectators screaming throughout the game. Suffering their fifth straight loss, the Blue Devils (15-18) fell 7-5 to the Pirates (25-6) despite solid pitching and clean defense.
"The guys competed well," head coach Bill Hillier said. "I [think] that East Carolina is one of the best team we've played to this point. I put them right up there with N.C. State. This game was probably the best game we've played [recently]."
A couple of Pirate home runs gave ECU the advantage, as all but one of its runs came via long balls. With the exception of those two hits, Duke's pitchers were able to control the Pirates. Seven Blue Devils pitched Wednesday and combined for six strikeouts--all but one recorded a strikeout. Justin DiLucchio and Ryan Sember each threw two innings, while Tony Bajoczsky, David Torcise, Danny Otero, Kevin Thompson and Billy Muldowney split the remaining five innings. Torcise pitched 1.2 innings without giving up a hit and Otero, Thompson and Muldowney each gave up only one. Five of the seven pitchers kept the Pirates scoreless.
"I'm pleased with the way my guys came in to pitch," head coach Bill Hillier said. "And we went out there and played clean defense. If you pitch well and play clean defense, you'll be in every game you play."
The Blue Devils jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Javier Socorro and Adam Murray both singled and Mike Miello and Bryan Smith were able to bring them home. Socorro's hit, one of three on the night, extended his hitting streak to nine games, equaling his career high.
"Right now, I'm feel pretty comfortable [at the plate]," Socorro said. "I'm seeing the ball well and my swing feels as good as it has all season."
Down by two, ECU immediately answered with five runs in the second inning. With one out, Mark Minnicozzi put a ball through a hole on the left side. Adam Witter hit a fly ball to left for the second out, and Billy Richardson came up to bat. In what would have been his third out, Blue Devil starter DiLucchio delivered three straight strikes, but the third passed catcher Adam Loftin, advancing Richardson and Minnicozzi to second and third. DiLucchio then walked Jamie Paige to load the bases for Pirate batting leader Ryan Jones, who is averaging .429 this season. DiLucchio threw a pitch low and inside, hitting Jones in the foot and scoring Minnicozzi from third base. Then ECU's RBI, total bases and home run leader Trevor Lawhorn hit a grand slam into left-centerfield. The ball was his first grand slam and 13th home run of the season.
"If we catch a third strike, that inning is over and they don't put a five-spot on us," Hillier said. "That hurt, obviously. In a 7-5 game, it hurt."
When Duke came to bat in the second, Silver walked with one out and was able to advance to third on a fielder's choice and a passed ball. Socorro registered his second hit of the night with a single into centerfield, but was tagged out at first on a base running error.
Both teams were kept from scoring again until the fifth, when ECU's Minicozzi put another ball through the left side and Adam Witter, who has seen limited time this season, took a 2-0 pitch long to left-centerfield for his second home run of the year.
The Blue Devils answered again in the bottom of the same inning, making up the two runs they lost. Jonathan Anderson walked and Socorro, who slammed an RBI triple into left field, brought him home. Then Murray attempted a bunt with Socorro on third, but pitcher Ricky Brooks caught it on the fly. With two outs, Tim Layden took two immediate strikes, but pulled the third pitch into rightfield for an RBI stand-up triple, increasing his numbers to 37 RBIs and 59 total bases.
The game was scoreless for the remaining four innings because of strong pitching and defense from both teams. The Blue Devils, who had committed 10 errors in their previous three games, did not commit a single error. Though the team did not erase ECU's scoring opportunities, it was able to minimize them, a result of solid fielding. Nonetheless, the Blue Devils just weren't able to pull off the win Wednesday night.
"It's a pretty frustrating loss because this is a team that's ranked in the top-20 and we hung in there with them," Socorro said. "It just goes to show that we're capable of playing at their level. To lose that two-run ball game, it's a tough loss, considering how we gave up the five runs in the second inning."
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