Duke Comes From Behind To Win Game Three 8-7 Against NC State

Sunday, April 12

Durham, N.C.

1:00 PM

Duke University

N.C. State

Duke Puts ACC Tourney Berth On The Line This Weekend Against Wake Forest

Duke Comes From Behind To Win Game Three 8-7 Against NC State

4/12/2009 4:45:00 PM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? Seniors Matt Williams and Nate Freiman drove in the tying and game-winning runs with consecutive two-out singles in the bottom of the 10th inning to lead Duke to an 8-7, series-clinching victory over NC State Sunday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field.

Both Williams and Freiman came through with Duke (24-13, 9-9 ACC) trailing 7-6 and down to its last out in the bottom of the 10th inning. Williams battled to a full count before roping an RBI single up the middle to tie the game before Freiman completed a 12-pitch at bat with an RBI knock to the left side of the infield. Freiman fell behind 0-2 in the count, but fouled off five two-strike pitches, including four straight at one point, before pulling a ground ball that NC State shortstop Dallas Poulk backhanded in the hole, but could not get to first base in time for what would have been the final out of the inning.

The two clutch singles were part of a three-run inning for Duke that started with a pinch-hit double from senior Tim Sherlock and continued with an RBI single by junior Gabriel Saade, who also homered in the game for the second time in the series. The three-run inning also capped a late comeback effort in which Duke overcame a 5-0 deficit by scoring two runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and two more in the seventh inning. Duke got both runs in the seventh on a two-out, game-tying single by shortstop Jake Lemmerman, who went 4-for-10 in the series with four RBI.

Duke's two-way outfielder and closer Alex Hassan threw 4.1 strong innings in relief of starter Eric Pfisterer and retired the first 12 batters he faced. Hassan struck out four and did not allow a single base runner until the top of the 10th inning as part the longest relief outing of his three-year career. Hassan also scored a pair of runs, including the one that tied the game at 5-5 in the seventh inning, while concluding a scoreless streak on the mound that spanned 11 innings.

Hassan's junior classmate Michael Ness (2-0) notched the win after getting the final two outs against NC State (18-17, 7-11 ACC) in the top of the 10th inning. Ness inherited men on first and second base after Hassan's exit and gave up an RBI single and a run-scoring balk, but followed by getting two straight outs to strand a runner on second base.

Duke got all three of its runs in the 10th inning off of reliever Kyle Rutter (2-2), who gave up the double to Sherlock and the singles to Saade and Williams. Rutter, who retired seven straight batters from the seventh through ninth inning, finally faltered in the 10th and gave up Saade's and Williams' RBI singles. He left the game with the score tied at 7-7 and men at the corners when Joey Cutler took the mound and gave up the full-count single to Freiman.

Defensively, Duke went without an error for the second time in the series while turning two double plays. One of the double plays came from Williams, who caught a foul pop up in front of the backstop and then gunned down an NC State base runner all the way at second base with a perfect throw that one-hopped the bag. Williams kept the Wolfpack in check on the base paths for the entire series, throwing out three of the four runners that tried to steal against him.

The 8-7 victory gives Duke its third ACC series win of the season and its first against NC State since 2004. The Blue Devils have now taken at least one game from every conference ACC opponent they have faced in 2009.

Pfisterer let his defense work for him early in the game, rolling two ground balls to get three outs in a scoreless first inning. He gave up a leadoff single to John Gianis to open the game, but then got Andrew Ciencin to send a ground ball to third baseman Ryan McCurdy, who went around the horn to start Duke's ACC-leading 33rd double play of the season. McCurdy made another stop for the third out, gloving a hard-hit ground ball by three-hitter Drew Poulk and firing it across the infield to end the inning.

The Blue Devil defense continued to help out Pfisterer in the second inning. Saade fielded a pair of groundouts at second base in another 1-2-3 inning for the Pfisterer, the second of which was a hard-hit two-hopper that Saade caught in the back of the infield, despite losing his footing. Saade took several steps to his glove side to get to the ball, but slipped when trying to square up to the ball. The ball took a quick, high hop over his head just as he lost his footing, but he managed to snag it anyway just before firing to first base for the third out.

NC State starter John Lambert also made quick work of the Blue Devils in his first two innings, sitting down all six batters he faced while striking out two. Lambert and Pfisterer both faced the minimum six batters in the first two innings while combining to throw just 43 pitches during that span.

NC State struck first, however, and broke up the scoreless streak with a two-run single from Gianis in the third inning, but had their rally stifled by an inning-ending double play by Williams. Following Gianis' single that sent in Chris Schaeffer and Dallas Poulk, Ciencin stepped into the box with one out and a man on first base. Ciencin lifted Pfisterer's 2-0 offering high into foul territory behind the plate where Williams tracked it all the way to the backstop and made the catch on the warning track by the wall. Gianis took off for second base as soon as the catch was made, but Williams, who was standing at least 80 feet behind home plate, fired a strike down to second base where Saade fielded it on one hop and applied the tag to Gianis' foot as he slid into the bag.

Freiman broke up the hitless streak in the bottom of the fourth inning with a single to left field, but Duke could do little else to take advantage of the scoring opportunity. Hassan drew a two-out walk to give Duke two men on base for the first time in the game, but Lambert forced designated hitter Will Currier to ground out to shortstop to end the inning and keep NC State's 2-0 lead intact.

The Wolfpack added to that lead in the top of the fifth on a two-out, two-run double by Pratt Maynard that ran the score to 5-0. Maynard's two-bagger came off of Pfisterer after he loaded the bases with two walks and a hit batter and signaled the end of the game for the Blue Devil southpaw. Butler then took the ball with Maynard on second base and used five pitches to get Devon Cartwright to ground out to shortstop for the final out.

Duke responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, the first of which came on a solo home run by Saade, which was his second long ball in as many days. Saade, who drove in three runs in the second game of Saturday's double header with a deep fly, hammered the first pitch he saw from Lambert well over the left field wall for Duke's first run of the game. McCurdy followed that by drawing a five-pitch walk and moving to second on a fielding error by NC State third baseman Drew Martin. The error came back to hurt Lambert, as Williams followed with an RBI single to right field that plated McCurdy just before Lambert forced to straight flyouts to end the inning.

Duke brought in Hassan in the top of the sixth in only his second non-save relief appearance of the year. He went about business as usual, however, striking out the first and third batters he faced on the way to retiring the side in order. Hassan, who entered the game needing just one more save to break Duke's all-time saves record, extended his scoreless streak to seven straight innings.

Duke took advantage of another NC State error in the bottom of the sixth to score an unearned run that trimmed the deficit to 5-3. Hassan started the rally with a two-strike base hit to right field and got a free pass to third base on the next at bat when Pedevillano rolled a ground ball to the right side where Ciencin fielded it, but threw it into left field while trying to get it to second base for a force out. Hassan leapt up after sliding into second and reached third base, where he would eventually score on a one-out sacrifice fly by McCurdy. McCurdy's RBI flyout came off of reliever Sam Brown, who inherited a bases-loaded, one-out jam in relief of Lambert, but limited the damage to just one run after getting outs against both batters he faced.

Hassan sat down the side in order once again in the top of the seventh and then turned around and scored the tying run in the bottom of the seventh. Hassan was part of a two-out rally by the Blue Devils in which Brown hit Gould and Hassan and then walked Pedevillano to load the bases. The Wolfpack then brought in Kyle Rutter to face Lemmerman, who roped a two-run single to left field that plated both Gould and Hassan to tie the game at 5-5.

Hassan continued to dominate the Wolfpack lineup and sat down three more in the ninth to extend his run of 12 straight batters retired. He struck out two more batters during that span, one swinging and one called, while matching the longest relief outing of his career at four innings.

Rutter, meanwhile, had been just as effective over his last two innings and sat down all six batters he faced to keep the game tied heading into extra innings. Rutter used just 23 pitches against the first eight batters he faced, throwing 17 of those for strikes.

Hassan was the first to falter, giving up a leadoff infield single to Martin and a one-out hit batter in the top of the 10th inning. Those would come back to hurt him, but only after he left the game with the runners on first and second with one out. Ness took over for Hassan, but gave up another seeing-eye single to Drew Poulk that sent in Martin for the go-ahead run before balking to send in another run. Ness slipped on the mound when delivering a pitch to Maynard, resulting in the balk call that put NC State ahead 7-5. He then struck out Maynard and got Cartwright out to end the inning, but the damage had already been done.

But Duke was not done either, as the Blue Devils tied the game on a clutch two-out single by Williams and won it on a two-out hit by Freiman. Both of the hits from Williams and Freiman came on full counts, with Freiman's game-winning knock coming after the Duke senior fouled off five two-strike pitches as part of a 12-pitch at bat.

-d-u-k-e-