In a series marred by Duke errors, Virginia swept three games from the Blue Devils this weekend. Committing 10 errors in three games, contrasted to the perfect defense of the Cavaliers, the baseball team paid for its mistakes in unearned runs, as Duke (15-17, 3-6 in the ACC) and Virginia (25-7, 7-4) allowed the same number of earned runs in two of the three games.
"Our defense has gone south," head coach Bill Hillier said. "I've counted 13 errors in four games, and we can't survive in college baseball if there's no defense."
Friday's game accounted for six of those 13 errors, as Duke lost 8-1. Against starter Tim Layden and relievers Justin Dilucchio and David Torcise, the Cavaliers piled up the runs, but only three were earned. Virginia struck first, scoring an earned run in the second inning. Duke answered in the bottom of the third, as a pair of sacrifice bunts scored John Berger, who had doubled to lead off the inning.
In the fourth inning, a fielding error by Kyle Silver at third base helped give the Cavaliers an unearned run to take the lead. Virginia then put up two runs in each the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. The Blue Devils were able to load the bases in the seventh but, with two outs, were not able to convert the runners into runs.
Saturday afternoon was a much closer contest, but Duke's two errors helped Virginia win this game 6-5. The Blue Devils had been leading 5-3 until the eighth, when Virginia went on a three-run rally against starter Zach Schreiber, including one unearned cross of the plate.
Schreiber, who pitched seven innings and faced three batters in the eighth, gave up eight hits, walked one and struck out 10 batters in a valiant losing effort. Blake Walker, who relieved Schreiber, let the winning run score off a wild pitch in the eighth and picked up the loss.
Though the second game of the series was Duke's most impressive at the plate this weekend, the Blue Devils could not hold off Virginia. Layden led the team offensively, going 3-for-5 with an RBI. Javier Socorro, who has been hot at the plate this season, leads the team batting .365 and extended his hit-streak to eight games this weekend; he was the only Blue Devil to register a hit in all three games. Socorro's hit in Sunday's game drove in Duke's only run in a 3-1 loss. Blue Devils starter Greg Burke pitched his first complete game of the season, striking out six batters and allowing only one earned run. Though his pitch count was his highest of the season, the redshirt junior seemed more impressive as the game progressed, allowing only three hits in the last five innings. "The more I pitch, the better I feel," Burke said. "Usually when I start off, it's a little harder, but once I settle down, I'm able to pitch better. I don't feel too fatigued either." In the top of the third inning, Berger committed a throwing error, which allowed Virginia's Matt Street to reach base and eventually score off a double. Matt Dunn then tripled to left-centerfield and drove in another run. In the fourth, Scott Headd singled for the Cavaliers and subsequently scored Virginia's only earned run. Though errors in the defense hurt the team, they did not seem to faze Burke on the mound. Even when an error in the sixth put a man on second, Burke stranded him there by striking out his sixth batter of the day. "[Ignoring errors] comes with experience," Hillier said. "When you're starting out as a freshman or sophomore, those kinds of things might effect your pitching. But as you gain more experience, you start to become less worried out there." Though Virginia starter Joe Koshansky kept the Blue Devils quiet for most of the game, Duke was able to get a run off of him in the eighth inning. With two outs, Jonathan Anderson singled off the first pitch to leftfield. The only two batters to hit off Koshansky, Socorro and shortstop Adam Murray, were on deck to face him in the eighth. Koshansky got off to an early 0-2 count, but Socorro battled back to a full count. He doubled to leftfield and scored Anderson from first. With the tying run at the plate, Virginia put in its freshman ace Casey Lambert to relieve Koshansky. Lambert, who leads the Cavaliers with a 2.11 ERA and three saves, faced Murray, who flied out to rightfield to end the inning. Duke was not able to hit Lambert in the ninth, and Virginia swept Duke for the third straight year.
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