Duke Ends Season With 7-5 Win At Virginia Tech

Saturday, May 17

Blacksburg, Va.

1:00 PM

Duke University

Virginia Tech

Duke Rides Three-Game Win Streak Into Weekend Series Against Clemson

Duke Ends Season With 7-5 Win At Virginia Tech

5/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

BLACKSBURG, Va. ? The Duke baseball team wrapped up one of the most successful seasons in school history Saturday afternoon with a 7-5 series-clinching win over Virginia Tech at English Field.

With the win, the Blue Devils (37-18-1, 10-18-1 ACC) conclude their 2008 campaign with the third most wins in school history and double digit conference victories for the first time since 2001. Duke finished with a school-record .978 fielding percentage and the second fewest walks allowed since the NCAA adopted a 50-plus game schedule in 1990. The Blue Devils also finished among the top 10 in the school record books in several offensive categories, including batting average, runs scored, hits, doubles and fewest strikeouts.

Sophomore Jeremy Gould accounted for three of Duke's runs, scoring two and driving in another with his first career triple. Gould also doubled in the sixth inning to extend his hitting streak to a career-long 14 games, a span in which he batted .362 with 21 hits. Also in his final game as a Blue Devil, senior designated hitter Jonathan Nicolla drove in two RBI against the Hokies (23-32, 6-24 ACC) while going 2-for-4 with his 13th double of the season.

Sophomore outfielder Alex Hassan also scored twice in the season finale, giving him two runs in each of his final five games of the season. Hassan's 62 runs this season tied him with former Blue Devil standout Quinton McCracken for the fifth most runs scored in a single season in school history.

The win went to sophomore pitcher Will Currier (6-5), who came out of the bullpen in the fifth inning to maintain a slim two-run lead until freshman Dennis O'Grady took over in the ninth to lock up his first career save. Currier allowed just one hit during his four-plus innings of work, which was a two-run homer to Virginia Tech center fielder Sean Ryan in the bottom of the ninth. Other than Ryan's long ball, the Hokies had a rough time putting together anything against Currier, as the 6-4, 215 pound sophomore retired 12 of his 14 batters faced from the fifth through the eighth. Since moving to the bullpen prior to the series against Maryland, Currier put together a 2.38 ERA and a 2-0 record over his last four appearances which span over 11 innings.

The majority of Virginia Tech's production came from home runs, as Klint Reed also launched a two-run homer with his only hit of the ballgame. The Hokies managed just five hits off the trio of Currier, O'Grady and starter Jonathan Foreman, with their only other run coming on a sacrifice fly.

Hokie starter Jesse Hahn (3-7) took the loss after giving up five runs (three earned) over four innings. The Blue Devils singled Hahn to death, knocking seven base knocks and a double off of the right hander before reliever David Cross came in to hold Duke to two runs on four hits over the final five innings.

The Blue Devils scored early and went ahead 1-0 in the first inning on an RBI single by Nicolla. Nicolla's base knock through the middle of the infield sent in Hassan from third for his 61st run of the season after the Blue Devil center fielder reached on a walk and went from first to third on a base hit by junior first baseman Nate Freiman.

Duke knocked two more singles in the second on the way to another run and a 2-0 lead. Sophomore third baseman Ryan McCurdy drove in the run with a two-out base knock to the left-center field gap that sent in freshman shortstop Jake Lemmerman from second base. Second baseman Gabriel Saade contributed the other base hit in the inning before swapping spots on first base with Lemmerman, who reached on a fielder's choice ground ball and beat out the throw at first base to foil a potential inning-ending double play. Senior Kyle Kreick was then hit by a pitch to bump Lemmerman to second before McCurdy came through with his two-strike, two-out RBI single.

Meanwhile, Foreman cruised through his first two frames, allowing just one runner to reach base while holding his pitch count to 25. He used just 10 pitches in the second, striking out Michael Seaborn with a 2-2 breaking ball before inducing a pair of popups with his next four pitches.

Foreman stayed dialed in in the third and retired three of his next four to hold Duke's 2-0 lead heading into the fourth. He ended a streak of six straight batters retired after walking Ryan, but stranded him on base by forcing Matt Hacker to softly line out to Lemmerman at shortstop.

Foreman got some more run support in the fourth when a Hokie fielding error allowed Duke to extend a two-out rally that produced a bases-loaded walk drawn by Nicolla and an RBI single by catcher Williams. The fielding error came on a shallow fly ball hit by Hassan that Virginia Tech right fielder Klint Reed chased down, but let fall to the turf after it kicked off the heel of his glove. Following the error, which allowed Hassan to reach second and McCurdy to move from first to third, the Hokies intentionally walked Freiman to load the bases. The intentional free pass brought Nicolla to the plate, who jumped ahead 3-1 in the count and took the fifth pitch of his at bat for an RBI walk. Williams then came to the plate with the bases still juiced and roped a base hit into left field to score Hassan. The Blue Devils opted to send in Freiman on the base hit as well, but he was gunned down at the plate on the throw from left fielder Steve Bumbry.

The extra runs proved to be even more valuable in the bottom of the fourth when Reed made up for his error with a two-run homer over the left field fence that trimmed the deficit to 4-2. Reed's bomb came with two outs on the board and followed a two-strike single by Seaborn. The home run was only the second long ball allowed of the season for Foreman, who has still finished the season with the fewest home runs by any Duke starter this season.

Duke chased Hahn in the top of the fifth after Gould opened the frame with a leadoff double and Saade drew a full count walk. Cross then took the mound for Virginia Tech and inherited runners at first and second with no outs. Lemmerman welcomed him into the game with another single to the right-center gap that loaded the bases just before Kreick came through with an RBI groundout up the middle. Kreick's roller left runners at the corners with one out, but Cross finally got out of the inning by forcing McCurdy to pop up and Hassan to hit into a groundout.

With a 5-2 lead to protect, Foreman began to have control issues in the fifth and allowed Virginia Tech's first three batters to reach base with a pair of walks and a single from Chris Kay. After issuing a four-pitch walk to Ryan, Foreman was replaced on the mound by Currier who inherited a bases-loaded, no-out situation with the go-ahead run at the plate. Currier was forced to trade a run for the first out of the inning when Hacker launched a sacrifice fly to deep left, but sat down the next two hitters on just six more pitches to end the inning with just one run of damage.

Currier came out in the same fashion in the sixth and sat down all three hitters to extend his streak to six straight batters retired. He improved that tear to seven batters in the seventh before issuing a full count walk to Kay in an at bat that featured eight pitches. He got right back on track against the next hitter, however, and struck out Ryan before inducing a flyout to end the inning.

Following another shutout inning by Currier in the eighth, the Blue Devils built on their slim two-run lead by scoring twice in the ninth to go ahead 7-3. Williams opened the late-inning rally by legging out a double down the left field line and scored two pitches later when Gould mashed his first career triple off the center field wall. Saade then launched a sacrifice fly to deep center field to score Gould before Cross finally ended the inning with two straight flyouts.

Currier stayed on in the bottom half of the ninth and got Duke within one out of locking up the win before Ryan put Virginia Tech back within two runs of tying the game after hammering a two-run homer. The shot over the left field wall put the score at 7-5 and ended Currier's outing, as O'Grady stepped in to save the win with the heart of the Hokie lineup coming to the plate. O'Grady needed just four pitches to end the game, forcing Hacker to pop up to Saade on a 2-1 count.

The win at Virginia Tech concludes the 2008 season for the Blue Devils, who will now disperse around the country to play in various summer leagues. To follow the returning players, be sure to visit GoDuke.com throughout the summer.