Duke Drops Heartbreaker 7-6 At No. 6 Miami On Walk-Off Homer

Sunday, March 15

Miami, Fla.

12:00 PM

Duke University

Miami

Duke Takes Down Liberty 3-2 in Extra Innings

Duke Drops Heartbreaker 7-6 At No. 6 Miami On Walk-Off Homer

3/15/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

CORAL GABLES, Fla. ? Jason Hagerty launched a walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning to give No. 6 Miami a 7-6 series-clinching win over Duke Sunday afternoon at Mark Light Field.

Hagerty's solo homer came with one out in the bottom of the ninth after Duke (10-6, 3-3 ACC) rallied to overcome a 6-1 deficit and tie the game at 6-6 in the top of the eighth inning. The walk-off shot gave Miami (14-3, 5-1 ACC) a 2-1 series win after winning the opener 5-4 on a walk-off double and dropping game two to the Blue Devils 2-0.

Duke outhit Miami 12-9 in the game and scored four runs from the sixth through eighth inning to overcome a five-run deficit. The Blue Devils were just 10 feet away from scoring the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning, but Miami second baseman Scott Lawson made up for a two-out error by Hagerty and threw out Duke catcher Matt Williams at the plate to keep the game tied at 6-6. Williams, who went 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run, was on second base when Hagerty booted Jake Lemmerman's ground ball and headed for the plate after rounding third. Lawson was there to back up Hagerty though, and picked up the ball on the edge of the outfield grass and fired to catcher Yasmani Grandal, who applied the tag to a sliding Williams.

The home run was the first hit of the game for Hagerty, who the Blue Devil pitching staff struck out twice and hit twice in his four previous at bats. The bomb came off of two-way closer Alex Hassan (1-2), who took the loss. Hassan was one of the main reasons Duke was even in position to win the game, however, after going 3-for-4 with two runs and two doubles from the leadoff spot. Duke's 6-4, 200 pound right fielder and end-game reliever, Hassan batted .583 for the series with three doubles, six runs and three RBI.

While Hagerty's walk-off shot gave Miami the win, right fielder Dave DiNatale and third baseman Harold Martinez helped put the Hurricanes on top with two RBI apiece. Grandal and shortstop Ryan Jackson also drove one run each when Miami scored all six of their runs in the fourth and fifth innings.

Duke, meanwhile, scored one run in the sixth and three in the seventh to close the gap to 6-5 before freshman Will Piwnica-Worms sent in the tying run with a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning. Freshman designated hitter Eric Pfisterer started the game-tying rally with a leadoff single in the eighth ? his second of two hits in the game ? before Piwnica-Worms drove in pinch runner Tom Luciano from third after Luciano stole second and moved over to third on a ground ball by Ryan McCurdy. Piwnica-Worms also had a single and a run as part of a three-run seventh for Duke, which featured an RBI single by Williams, an RBI double from Jeremy Gould and a sacrifice fly by Saade.

Miami closer Kyle Bellamy (3-0) locked up the win, despite giving up the tying run in the eighth. Bellamy, who also won Friday's contest, threw 2.1 innings, giving up one run and a pair of hits.

Duke starter Ryan Knott and Miami starter Iden Nazario held the opposing offenses in check for the first two innings, but Duke struck first to jump ahead 1-0 in the top of the third. Following a five-pitch second inning from Knott, Duke got to Nazario in the top of the third by stringing together consecutive two-out hits from Hassan and Williams to give Duke the first lead of the game for the third time in the series. Nazario sat down Duke's first two batters in the inning, but could not get past the top of Duke's lineup, as Hassan slapped a ground ball through the left side and Williams sent him in with a two-out double into the left-field gap. Williams' line drive double was just over the head of Miami shortstop Ryan Jackson, but rolled all the way to the warning track to give Hassan plenty of time to cross the plate from first base.

The Hurricanes countered with their first hit of the game in the bottom of the third, but the Blue Devils erased the one-out single by turning their 17th double play of the season. Miami leadoff man Nathan Melendres knocked the base hit on a 1-2 fastball he drove back up the middle, but got no further on the base paths when Knott induced the double-play ground ball from Lawson to end the inning. It was the team-leading 11th double play that Saade was a part of and the third of the series for the Blue Devils.

Duke had a chance to run the lead to 2-0 in the top of the fourth, but Nazario got himself out of jam by getting two straight outs to strand Duke shortstop Jake Lemmerman on third base. Lemmerman belted a one-out base hit through the right side to get on base and then put himself in scoring position by stealing second and moving over to third when Grandal's ensuing throw down to second base skipped into center field. That would be as close as Lemmerman got to the plate, however, as Nazario struck out Pfisterer for the second out and forced McCurdy to foul out to end the inning.

The lost opportunity came back to hurt Duke sooner rather than later, as the Hurricanes took advantage of a leadoff walk and drove in three runs in the bottom of the fourth to go ahead 3-1. Two of those runs came with two outs as DiNatale, Grandal and Jackson strung together three straight two-out hits. Designated hitter Chris Hermann started the rally by drawing a full count walk and got a free pass to third base when Knott fired an errant pickoff throw into Miami's bullpen. The sophomore right-hander bounced back to strike out Hagerty looking, but could not stop Martinez from driving a deep fly ball to center field that sent in Hermann to tie the game. DiNatale then followed with a single to left field and scored all the way from first on an ensuing double from Grandal that hit the right-center fencer in the air. Jackson then came through with another base knock that squeaked through the right side and drove in Grandal for Miami's final run of the inning.

The Blue Devils had another chance to put a run on the board in the fifth, but were foiled again by Nazario. Duke had runners on first and second with one out and three-hitter Nate Freiman up to the plate but Nazario forced him to hit a slow roller off the end of his back right to second base where Jackson fielded it, stepped on second and fired to first to complete the double play. The twin-killing erased a one-out double by Hassan and a walk taken by Williams and left a Duke base runner stranded in scoring position for the third straight inning.

Miami put up three more runs in the bottom of the fifth as well to run the lead to 6-1. The Canes knocked three hits in the inning and got three free passes with two hit batters and a walk before Duke reliever Michael Ness finally shut the rally down with two bases-loaded strikeouts. Miami's first hit came from Melendres and prompted Duke to bring in reliever Dennis O'Grady in place of Knott to inherit a runner on first base. O'Grady fanned Lawson for the first out, but balked on the next at bat to put Melendres in scoring position. Saade then saved what would have been an RBI single by making a diving stop on a ground ball behind first base to hold Melendres up at third, but it did little good as O'Grady hit Hagerty with a pitch to load the bases and walked Martinez to send in a run. DiNatale then followed with a base hit that just got through the left side and scored two runs, prompting Duke to bring in Ness to inherit runners on first and second with one out. Ness hit Grandal to open his outing, but then fanned Jackson and Jonathan Weislow to leave all three Miami base runners on base and keep the damage at three runs.

Though down 6-1, Duke was far from done and took back one of the runs in the top of the sixth on an RBI single from Pfisterer. Pfisterer's base knock drove in Gould, who reached after being hit by a pitch, and was the fourth hit of the series for the two-way Duke freshman. Miami then brought in Travis Miller to stifle the rally, and he did his job by getting McCurdy to ground out for the third out of the inning.

Following a scoreless sixth inning from Ness, Duke's bats finally broke out with a three-run seventh inning that included four hits and trimmed Miami's lead to 6-5. Piwnica-Worms and Hassan started the inning with two straight singles off of Miller and moved into scoring position when Miller fired a wild pitch to the backstop on his first offering to Williams. The wild pitch prompted Miami to bring in reliever Travis Wulf, who had held Duke to just one hit in his first two appearances of the series. But the Blue Devils had finally adjusted to the hard-throwing right-hander and tagged two hits off of Wulf, beginning with an RBI single by Williams that drove in Piwnica-Worms. Gould then followed with an RBI double down the third base line that scored Hassan and moved both he and Williams into scoring position. With Miami's lead now cut to 6-4, Saade sent in yet another run with a sacrifice fly in foul territory down the left field line that Weislow caught, but could not get back into the infield in time, allowing Williams to score and cut the deficit to one run.

Duke sent junior Will Currier to the mound in the bottom of the seventh, and the junior right-hander made quick work of the bottom of the Hurricanes lineup. Currier retired the side in order, striking out one, and got some help when third baseman Ryan McCurdy made a diving stop on a ground ball by Jackson that was ripped down the third base line. McCurdy laid out and caught the roller on the foul line, popped up and fired all the way across the infield to get the Hurricane shortstop by a full step at first base.

Duke kept the momentum going in the top of the eighth and tied the score at 6-6 on a sacrifice fly from Piwnica-Worms that scored pinch Luciano. Luciano swapped spots on first base with Pfisterer after the Duke designated hitter opened the rally with a base hit to the left side off of Bellamy and then stole second on Bellamy's first offering to McCurdy. McCurdy pushed Luciano over to third with a groundout to the right side, putting him just 90 feet away from tying the game with Piwnica-Worms coming to the plate. Piwnica-Worms, who started the three-run rally in the previous inning with a leadoff single, then lifted a fly ball into left-center field, which Melendres caught and came up firing to home plate. Luciano tagged on the fly ball and dropped down to slide into the plate just as the ball reached Hurricane catcher Grandal, but Luciano came out on the winning end of the play with a feet-first slide that just beat Grandal's tag.

With the game now tied, Duke brought in Hassan from right field to get the next three outs in the eighth. The Blue Devil closer did his job by retiring Miami's next three hitters, ending the inning with a full-count strikeout against Lawson.

Duke came within 10 feet of scoring the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth, but Lawson threw out the potential game-winning run after fielding a ground ball that Hurricane first baseman Jason Hagerty booted with two outs and runners on first and second. Lemmerman knocked the ball to the right side of the infield, and Hagerty charged it, but tried to field it on the second hop. When the ball kicked off the heel of Hagerty's glove and bounced to the back of the infield, Duke head coach Sean McNally waved Williams around third base toward the plate. Lawson was there to back up Hagerty, however, and picked up the ball just in time to fire it to Grandal, who applied the tag to a sliding Williams. The play stopped a Duke rally that started with a leadoff single from Williams and resumed with a full-count walk taken by Saade that moved Williams to second base.

Hagerty immediately made up for what could have proved to be a costly error with his walk-off bomb in the bottom of the ninth. The solo shot came just after Hassan struck out Hermann for the first out of the inning and gave the Hurricanes their second win of a very competitive series.

Up next for the Blue Devils is a mid-week series against Maryland-Eastern Shore on Tuesday and Wednesday, March 17-18. Both games will begin at 3 p.m. at Jack Coombs Field before Duke heads across town to play at No. 1 North Carolina on March 20-22.

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