The Blue Devils turned in their worst performance of the season in dropping their third straight game, 19-5, at East Carolina Tuesday.
The Pirates (5-2) turned a 2-1 Duke advantage into an 18-3 lead by crossing the plate 17 times in the third through sixth innings. Jake Smith and Ryan Tousley each had five RBIs for East Carolina.
The Pirates batted around in the third inning, scoring four times to take a 5-2 lead. Three doubles and one of the Blue Devils' four errors aided the East Carolina assault.
More of the same occurred in the fourth, as two more doubles and a Tousley two-run home run led to four more Pirate runs.
Duke (2-4) got a run back in the top of the fifth on a leadoff homer from freshman Tim Sherlock, but East Carolina responded with three more in the bottom of the frame. A six-spot in the sixth and a lone run in the eighth culminated the Pirates' offensive explosion.
Although Duke recorded a season-high 14 hits-shortstop Brett Bartles had four of them-it stranded 10 on base.
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