Gallagher, Bartles and Murray Homer To Lead Duke Past Virginia Tech In 10-9 Victory

Sunday, April 23

Blacksburg, Va.

1:00 PM

Duke University

Virginia Tech

Gallagher Named Rawlings 2006 Coastal Plain League Offensive Player Of The Year

Gallagher, Bartles and Murray Homer To Lead Duke Past Virginia Tech In 10-9 Victory

4/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

BLACKSBURG, Va. ? Right fielder Jimmy Gallagher capped a four-run fourth inning with a two-run blast and shortstop Brett Bartles and third baseman Adam Murray added solo shots to lead the Duke Blue Devils to a 10-9 victory over the Virginia Tech Hokies on Sunday afternoon at English Field. Duke improves to 14-30 overall and 6-15 in the ACC while Virginia Tech falls to 17-24 overall and 3-18 in conference play.

After dropping the series opener on Friday night, the Blue Devils won back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday to take their second ACC series of the season.

The Blue Devils took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second. After second baseman Javier Socorro led off the inning with a single to left, center fielder Jonathan Anderson moved Socorro into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. First baseman Jonathan Nicolla followed with a single to left to give Duke runners on the corners. Murray then lined an RBI-single to left on a 3-2 pitch, scoring Socorro for the first run of the ballgame.

Duke scored four times in the top of the fourth to take a commanding 5-0 lead. With one out, Nicolla reached on an error by third baseman Bryan Thomas. Murray then drew a walk to give the Blue Devils runners at first and second before catcher Matt Williams lined an RBI-single off of second baseman Matt Hacker, scoring Nicolla and moving Murray to third. After left fielder Daniel Palmer plated Murray with a sacrifice bunt, Gallagher connected on a 1-1 offering and hit a towering two-run shot over the right field wall for his fifth home run of the season and second of the series.

The Blue Devils would add a pair of runs in the top of the fifth to take a 7-0 lead. Socorro singled up the middle before advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt by Anderson to start the inning. Nicolla followed with an RBI-double to left to score Socorro. After Murray singled through the left side to give Duke runners on the corners, Williams laced an RBI-single to left to score Nicolla.

Virginia Tech would score four runs in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 7-4 ballgame. Right fielder Jose Cueto drew a walk to start the inning before advancing to third on a double to right by center fielder Nate Parks. Left fielder Billy Marn followed with a two-run double to right to score Cueto and Parks. Designated hitter Sean O'Brien then capped the frame with an opposite-field two-run homer.

Bartles put the Blue Devils up 8-4 with a leadoff home run in the top of the sixth. Bartles turned on a 1-0 pitch and sent it sailing over the left field wall for his team-leading seventh long ball of the season.

Thomas and Cueto hit back-to-back RBI-doubles in the bottom of the sixth to cut the deficit to 8-6.

In the top of the seventh, Murray crushed an 0-2 offering to left for his first home run of the season to give Duke a 9-6 advantage.

Nicolla added an RBI-single to right in the top of the eighth to put the Blue Devils up 10-6.

The Hokies posted a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth, scoring on an RBI-single by Marn and a bases-loaded walk by O'Brien to make it a 10-8 ballgame.

Catcher Jose Rojas added an RBI-single in the bottom of the ninth to make it a one-run game but Blue Devil reliever Ryan Perry got out of a first and third jam by getting Parks to fly out to center to end the game.

Duke starter Tony Bajoczky improved to 2-8 on the season, holding the Hokies to five runs on six hits in 5.0 innings of work. Perry picked up his first save of the season for the Blue Devils.

Virginia Tech starter Nicky Bowers fell to 2-5 on the year after allowing seven runs on nine hits in 4.1 innings.

The Blue Devils will return to the diamond on Wednesday when they travel to Davidson to take on the Wildcats at 7 p.m. Duke will then host Tobacco Road rival and top-ranked North Carolina for a three-game series Friday through Sunday at Jack Coombs Field.

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