Dukes Takes Game Three 7-5 Against Virginia Tech

Sunday, March 8

Durham, N.C.

1:00 PM

Duke University

Virginia Tech

Saturday's Double Header Moved Up To Friday

Dukes Takes Game Three 7-5 Against Virginia Tech

3/8/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? Alex Hassan went 2-for-5 with a double, RBI and a run at the plate and stepped onto the mound to record his third save of the season and help Duke lock up a series-clinching 7-5 win over Virginia Tech Sunday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field.

Hassan (1-0) logged his sixth straight multi-hit game on Sunday to extend his team-leading hit streak to seven games. His first hit of the ball game was a double in the third inning, while his second was an RBI single in the seventh that put Duke ahead 7-2. He also toed the rubber for the second straight day, coming in with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning to shut down the Hokies and lock up the win.

Duke outfielder Jeremy Gould knocked three hits on the day, giving him eight base knocks and a .533 batting average for the series, which Duke (8-3, 1-1 ACC) took two games to one. Freshman center fielder Will Piwnica-Worms and third baseman Ryan McCurdy also had two hits apiece, with McCurdy driving in two RBI and Piwnica-Worms one.

Sophomore Dennis O'Grady (1-0) came out of the bullpen to throw five complete innings for Duke, holding the Hokies (9-3, 1-2 ACC) scoreless from the fourth through eighth inning. O'Grady scattered five hits in his outing and did not allow a run until the Hokies mounted a late rally and scored three runs in the ninth. O'Grady took over for Duke starter Ryan Knott, who held Virginia Tech to two runs ? one earned ? on two hits. Knott, in his first career ACC start, set a career high with 3.2 innings pitched and lowered his ERA to 3.00 for the season.

Virginia Tech got a 2-for-3, one-run, one-RBI effort out of leadoff man Klint Reed and a two-run homer out of catcher Steve Domecus. Domecus' two-run bomb gave the Hokies their only runs from the first through eighth innings. Reed and pinch hitter Mike Kaminski provided some late-inning drama with consecutive two-out hits in the top of the ninth inning, both of which sent in runs. Their RBI knocks were part of a three-run inning for Virginia Tech, which finally had its rally cut down by Hassan.

Hokie starter Matthew Price (1-1) took the loss following a six-inning outing in which he gave up five runs, though only three were earned. Duke tagged Price for seven hits before reliever Ben Rowen took over in the seventh and gave up two runs. Closer Jesse Hahn came in in place of Rowen with two outs in the same inning and shut down the Blue Devils offense by retiring Duke's final four hitters in order.

Duke jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with a second inning that featured an RBI fielder's choice groundout by Piwnica-Worms and a two-out throwing error by Price that allowed Tim Sherlock to score for Duke. Gould got the rally started with the first of his three hits in the game and moved over two bases following another base knock from Sherlock, which was his second in as many at bats, dating back to Saturday's game. Jake Lemmerman then drew a walk to load the bases for Piwnica-Worms, who slapped a potential double play ground ball to the right side that he beat out at first base to keep the inning alive and allow a run to score. With runners on first and third and two outs following the fielder's choice, McCurdy punched a ground ball back to the mound that Price fielded, but threw over the head of his first baseman, Buddy Sosnoskie. The throwing error easily allowed Sherlock to score from third before Price got out of the inning.

Duke tacked on another run in the third on a sacrifice fly ball from senior catcher Matt Williams. Williams' RBI flyout sent in Hassan from third after the Duke two-hitter opened the inning with a fly ball to right field that Reed lost in the sun and allowed to fall to the ground for a double. Gould helped moved Hassan over to third with his second consecutive hit before Williams mashed a deep fly ball to center field to send him in.

Virginia Tech struck back in the top of the fourth on Domecus' home run, a two-run blast that immediately followed a Duke fielding error. The blast was Virginia Tech's first hit of the game, but not the last of the inning as third baseman Michael Seaborn ripped a two-out single later in the inning. Seaborn's base knock signaled the end of the day for Knott, who gave way to O'Grady. O'Grady, in his fourth relief appearance of the season, ended the threat with men on first and second and would go on to give up just one more hit until the ninth inning.

Duke got one of the runs back in the bottom half of the fourth, thanks to another Hokie fielding error that allowed Piwnica-Worms to score after he opened the inning with a single. Piwnica-Worms started the scoring drive with a line drive to left field for his 10th hit of the season and then put himself in scoring position by stealing second. He took off for third on the next play when McCurdy slapped a slow roller to Virginia Tech shortstop Ty Hohman, and scored one play later when Hohman threw away the next ball hit to him by Duke leadoff man Gabriel Saade.

Leading 4-2 heading into the fifth, Duke added one more run on a bases-loaded infield single by McCurdy. With three men on and two outs on the board, McCurdy stepped into the box and ripped a hard-hit ground ball to the left side that Seaborn dove for and knocked down, but could not come up with in time to get the out.

Following a third-straight scoreless inning from O'Grady, Duke's offense went to work again in the seventh and scored twice off of Rowen on another single from McCurdy and one more from Hassan. McCurdy's base knock was the third straight for Duke and drove in Lemmerman, who started the rally with a single and moved over to third on Piwnica-Worms' second base hit of the day. Following a walk to Saade that put runners at the corners, Hassan slapped a ground ball to the left side that Seaborn lunged for and snagged, but could not fire over to first after slipping in the dirt.

O'Grady came out to hold the Hokies scoreless again in the eighth and needed to secure just three more outs in the ninth to lock up the win. But the Hokies, who were sending their six, seven and eight hitters to the plate to start the inning, started out with consecutive hits by Hohman and Bumbry to put two men on base with no outs. O'Grady bounced back to retire the next two hitters, forfeiting one of those runs in the process, but ran into more trouble when Virginia Tech's top of the lineup came to the plate. Reed came to bat with Bumbry on third and ripped an RBI single up the middle to run the score to 7-4, and Buddy Sosnoskie followed with a double down the left field line that put him and Reed in scoring position with two outs. With three-hitter Austin Wates coming to the plate as the go-ahead run, Duke called on Hassan to take the mound in the save situation. In a rematch between he and Wates that had previously ended in a game-tying home run by the Virginia Tech outfielder in game two. Wates would get the better of Hassan again by drawing a full-count walk that loaded the bases for cleanup hitter Anthony Sosnoskie, who promptly sent in a run after taking a fastball off his shoulder. With Duke's lead trimmed to 7-5 and the tying run at second base, Hassan buckled down and jumped ahead 0-2 against Domecus before forcing him to fly out to right fielder Joe Pedevillano to end the game.

With the win, the Blue Devils take their first ACC series of the season two games to one over the Hokies. Up next for Duke is a pair of 3 p.m. midweek meetings at Liberty and at home against Quinnipiac on March 10-11 before Duke heads south to face Miami in a three-game road series on March 13-15.

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