Duke Tops Virginia Tech 4-2 In Series Opener

Thursday, May 15

Blacksburg, Va.

5:30 PM

Duke University

Virginia Tech

Duke Opens Two-Game Road Trip Today At UNC Greensboro

Duke Tops Virginia Tech 4-2 In Series Opener

5/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

BLACKSBURG, Va. ? Andrew Wolcott held Virginia Tech to one run over six innings before allowing relievers Michael Ness and Alex Hassan to close out the final three innings of a 4-2 Duke win over the Hokies Thursday evening at English Field.

Wolcott scattered six hits and struck out six over his six complete frames while turning in his team-leading sixth quality start of the season. After Virginia Tech tied the game at 2-2 with a two-out rally in the eighth, Hassan (5-0) picked up the final out in the eighth and shut down the Hokies (22-31, 5-23 ACC) in the ninth to lock up the win. Duke broke the 2-2 tie with a two-run ninth that featured a wild pitch that gave Duke the lead and a two-out RBI single by catcher Matt Williams.

Duke broke the 2-2 tie with a two-run ninth that featured a wild pitch that gave Duke the lead and a two-out RBI single by catcher Matt Williams.

Virginia Tech starter Rhett Ballard (3-8) took the loss after giving up all four runs through 8.1 innings of work. Ballard took a 2-2 tie into the ninth, but lost his command after throwing over 110 pitches, seven of which were used to tie an NCAA record by hitting seven batters in the game. Three of his pitches hit Duke third baseman Ryan McCurdy, who improved his team-leading hit by pitch total to 27 which is just two shy of the ACC record 29 taken by Wake Forest's Ryder Mathias in 2005.

The third time McCurdy was hit by a pitch proved to be costly for Ballard, as the Blue Devil sophomore ended up scoring the go-ahead run for Duke on a wild pitch in the top of the ninth. Pinch hitter Ben Condon was in the box when McCurdy was on third and was partially responsible for the run after falling behind 0-2 in the count only to watch Ballard's next four offerings, including the wild pitch, go by for balls.

In addition to the victory, Hassan also scored two runs for the third straight game while going 1-for-4 at the plate. Jonathan Nicolla also contributed an RBI single while Jeremy Gould scored and collected a base hit to extend his hitting streak to 12 straight contests.

Virginia Tech received one RBI apiece from right fielder Klint Reed and left fielder Jose Cueto, with Reed's two-out single in the eighth tying the game at 2-2. Both Hokies finished with two hits apiece, as did designated hitter Matt Blow.

Duke first baseman Nate Freiman kept up his hot streak with a two-out double in the first inning, but got no further than second after Ballard ended the inning with a strikeout. The two-bagger was the fifth extra-base hit in his last six at bats for Freiman and the seventh straight at-bat in which the 6-8, 240 pound first baseman had a hit.

O'Brien followed suit with a two-out double for the Hokies in the bottom of the first, but was also left stranded when Wolcott whiffed cleanup hitter Austin Wates with a 2-2 fastball on the inside corner. Wolcott came out even better in the second and sat down the side in order with just nine pitches.

Ballard would struggle with his control, however, and created a one-out jam for himself before getting out of it on his own with consecutive strikeouts. Ballard gave up a one-out infield single to Duke nine-hitter Michael Ghizzoni and proceeded to hit McCurdy on the leg for the sophomore Blue Devil's school-record 25th time hit by a pitch this season. With the runners on first and second, one out on the board and Duke's leading hitters coming to the plate, Ballard buckled down and came back from behind 3-0 in the count against Hassan to strike him out with three straight pitches before sending Freiman back to the dugout with a 1-2 breaking ball off the outside part of the plate.

Duke shortstop Jake Lemmerman flashed his range at short in the next half inning, saving a ground ball from trickling through the left side and converting it into the first out of the inning. The roller came off the bat of catcher Chris Kay and was headed to the outfield before Lemmerman backhanded it in the hole and threw off his back foot to get Kay at first base by less than a step. Lemmerman's stop kept the Hokies from sending Reed from first to third on the play, where he would have easily scored from on the ensuing groundout by Sean Ryan. Instead, Kay held up on second on Lemmerman's play and moved to third on Ryan's groundout where he was stranded when Wolcott dished out a called strikeout to Matt Hacker to end the inning.

Meanwhile, Ballard was sharp to start off the fourth and retired his first two hitters, but flat out gave Duke a run after committing a three-base throwing error and sending his next pitch to the backstop for a wild pitch. The error came when Gould mashed a hard-hit ground ball back to the mound that Ballard had no choice but to knock down in self defense. Ballard picked up the ball before Gould was halfway down the line, but sent his throw wide of his first baseman and into the fence in foul territory. Gould rounded first and was able to fly around to third on the play, where he would score from on the next offering when Ballard threw one behind Gabriel Saade and to the backstop for a wild pitch.

The 1-0 lead did not last long though, as Virginia Tech responded with a two-out RBI single in the bottom half of the fourth to knot the game at 1-1. The clutch single came from Cueto and was the second of a pair of two-out singles, the first of which came from Blow. Blow's base knock started the rally by moving Michael Seaborn from first to third after Seaborn reached on a fielder's choice. Cueto then came through with a base knock through the left side on a 1-1 count to plate Seaborn.

The Blue Devils followed suit with a two-out rally of their own in the top half of the fifth to regain the lead at 2-1. While Nicolla was responsible for the run-scoring base knock, Hassan started the rally by beating out an infield single and moving to second on the same play when the throw to first from Seaborn skipped in front of the bag and into foul territory. He was soon joined on the base paths by Freiman, who was hit by a pitch just before Nicolla came through with his two-out base knock through the left side.

The Hokies put their leadoff man on base in the bottom of the fifth, but could not get him any further than second as they squandered yet another scoring opportunity. Wolcott put runners on first and second before the inning was done, but struck out Wates for the third straight time to end the threat.

Virginia Tech left two more on base in the bottom of the sixth, thanks once again to an inning-ending strikeout from Wolcott. Through his first six innings, Wolcott gave up six hits, but stranded eight Hokie base runners, including two each in the fourth, fifth and sixth.

Duke turned to Ness in the seventh to bridge the game to Hassan in the ninth. The Blue Devil relief specialist opened his team-leading 21st relief appearance with a strikeout against Ryan and retired two of his next three to end a quick seventh for the Hokies.

Ness nearly got the game into the ninth after sitting down Virginia Tech's first two batters in the eighth, but surrendered a two-out bloop single to Cueto before Reed tied the game up with a two-out double down the right field line. Reed's line drive hit just inside the right field line and scored pinch runner Steve Bumbry all the way from first base to wipe away Wolcott's win. Duke went to Hassan following the two-out double and the Blue Devil closer needed just two pitches to end the inning.

Heading into the top of the ninth, Ballard had already topped the 110-pitch mark. It showed almost immediately when he hit McCurdy and Hassan to start off the inning before allowing Freiman to move McCurdy into scoring with a fly ball deep to the right-center field gap. With the go-ahead run on third, Condon stepped into the box as a pinch hitter and rebounded from falling behind 0-2 in the count to watch the next pitch two pitches go by for balls. The second pitch was well out of the zone, however, and evaded Kay's mitt and rolled to the backstop. McCurdy scored easily on the passed ball to give Duke the lead before Condon completed his at bat by drawing a walk. Williams then came through with an RBI single to plate Hassan and put the Blue Devils ahead 4-2 before reliever Rob Waskiewicz ended the inning.

Hassan made quick work of the Hokies in the ninth, using just 12 pitches to end the game.

With the win, Duke is one-third of the way to securing a spot in the eight-team ACC Tournament field. The Blue Devils need to win the two remaining games against the Hokies, beginning with Friday's contest at 5:30 p.m. Duke lefty Christopher Manno (6-1, 2.89 ERA) will take the ball for Duke opposite Virginia Tech starter Justin Wright (3-0, 3.95 ERA).

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