Manno Strikes Out 10 In 8-1 Blue Devil Victory

Tuesday, February 26

Durham, N.C.

3:00 PM

Duke University

Alabama A&M

Manno Strikes Out 10 In 8-1 Blue Devil Victory

2/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? Christopher Manno struck out 10 batters and held Alabama A&M to one run through six innings to lead the Duke baseball team to an 8-1 win over the Bulldogs Tuesday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field.

Manno (1-0) surrendered just seven hits without allowing a walk in his third career start. The sophomore southpaw needed only 75 pitches ? 61 of which were strikes ? to pick up his first career win.

Relievers Ryan Perry and Ryan Knott combined for three hitless innings of relief after Manno's departure. Perry, a senior, logged two innings and one strikeout, while Knott, a freshman, closed out the ninth with two strikeouts in his first career appearance.

Duke (5-0) received a 2-for-4, two-RBI performance from junior Nate Freiman, who also contributed his third home run of the season. Freiman has now driven in a team-high 11 RBI, all of which have come in the last three games.

The Blue Devils struck out just once the entire game while collecting nine hits. Designated hitter Kyle Kreick and freshman shortstop Jake Lemmerman each went 2-for-4 with a run, while Lemmerman drove in an RBI for the second straight game. Alex Hassan went 1-for-2 with a run and a pair of walks, while leadoff man Gabriel Saade turned in an RBI triple. Hassan, Saade and Freiman also extended their hitting streaks to five games.

Manny Siaca went 3-for-4 for Alabama A&M (0-4), while outfielder Kency Duarte had an RBI and Jerome Brown scored the Bulldogs' only run.

Siaca slapped Manno's first offering of the game to right field for a base hit and stole second on the next pitch to put himself in scoring position. Manno settled down, however, and struck out the next Bulldog hitter on three straight pitches before forcing Turner Washington to fly out to right field for the second out. Siaca advanced to third on the flyout, but would not advance any further after Manno struck out cleanup hitter Chris Jennings to end the inning.

Manno stayed in a groove through the second inning when he struck out the first two hitters on six straight pitches. Of Manno's first 25 pitches, 21 were strikes. Bulldog third baseman Bryan Evans swung and missed at Manno's first two pitches as well, but punched a 1-2 offering to right center field for a base hit. Manno would make up for the base knock, however, and picked off Evans on first base to end the inning.

Manno opened the third inning in the same fashion by striking out Chris Mallett with a 1-2 breaking ball. Alabama A&M followed with back-to-back bunt singles, however, to put runners on first and second base with one out. Bulldog center fielder Kency Duarte then ripped a line drive to right-center field to drive in Jerome Brown from second, but a heads up play by Freiman allowed Duke to gun down Siaca trying to advance to third. Freiman teamed up on a relay from Hassan in the outfield on the same play and fired to Ryan McCurdy at third base just in time to tag Siaca. Manno then struck out Washington to end the inning.

Duke took advantage of an Alabama A&M fielding error in the bottom of the third to tie the score at 1-1. McCurdy reached base to open the inning after Brown mishandled his ground ball at second base. McCurdy then stole second base on a pitch in the dirt and moved to third on a groundout by Saade. Duke catcher Matt Williams then sent McCurdy across the plate after grounding out to second base.

Manno continued dealing through the fourth and picked up his seventh strikeout in a 1-2-3 inning. The Blue Devil offense got back on track in the bottom half of the inning and put up four runs on four hits to go ahead 5-1. After Freiman and Kreick opened the inning with back-to-back singles, a pair of passed balls sent Freiman across the plate and Kreick to third. Outfielder Jeremy Gould then drew a walk to put runners at the corners for Lemmerman, who dropped a single into left center field for an RBI. A fielder's choice putout at second base then moved Gould to third and put Michael Ghizzoni on first, allowing Ghizzoni to steal second and Gould to score on an ensuing throwing error. Saade then tripled to left center to drive in Ghizzoni for the fourth run of the inning.

The Bulldogs threatened to score again in the top of the fifth after a pair of base hits put runners on first and second. Manno kept his composure though, and responded with his ninth strikeout of the game to end the inning.

After another 1-2-3 inning in the sixth, Manno handed the ball over to Perry to start the seventh inning. The senior right hander induced three straight groundouts on seven pitches for a three-up, three-down inning. Perry would remain on the mound for the next inning and followed with another hitless performance.

Freiman mashed his two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh to put Duke on top 8-1. The junior first baseman's shot to left field also drove in Hassan, who reached base after drawing his second walk of the game. The long ball was the third of the season for Freiman and his third in as many games.

Knott took the mound for the Blue Devils to start the ninth and displayed the same form that earned him recognition as one of the top-100 high school players in Chicago. In his first collegiate appearance, the freshman right hander needed just 11 pitches to close out the game, which ended after back-to-back strikeouts.

Duke and Alabama A&M will complete their two-game series on Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 3 p.m. at Jack Coombs.

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