Duke Scores Twice In Bottom Of Eighth En Route To 4-2 Win Over Richmond

Wednesday, March 12

Durham, N.C.

3:00 PM

Duke University

Richmond

Duke Scores Twice In Bottom Of Eighth En Route To 4-2 Win Over Richmond

3/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? Alex Hassan went 2-for-3 and scored a pair of go-ahead runs to lead Duke to a 4-2 win over Richmond Wednesday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field.

Hassan reached base in three of his four plate appearances and crossed the plate twice, giving Duke a temporary 2-1 lead in the sixth after hitting a double and putting the Blue Devils (14-2, 1-2 ACC) ahead for good after drawing a walk and scoring in the bottom of the eighth. The 6-3, 200 pound center fielder has multiple hits in each of his last two games and raised his batting average to .422 with Wednesday's performance. His two runs against the Spiders gives him 22 on the season for the most in the ACC.

Junior catcher Matt Williams and sophomore outfielder Jeremy Gould also contributed a pair of hits and a run, while Gould drove in Hassan with a one-out go-ahead single in the sixth inning. Gould extended his hitting streak to a team-high 12 games, matching Hassan's streak of 12 straight to start the season. Gould leads the ACC with a .481 batting average and is among the top three in the conference in RBI (18), hits (25) and on base percentage (.563) in addition to leading the Blue Devils with a .667 (14-for-21) batting average with runners in scoring position. Williams extended his streak to three games and is hitting .538 with three multi-hit outings during that span.

Blue Devil starter Jonathan Foreman scattered three Richmond hits and one run over six innings, but came up with a no-decision after Richmond tied the game in the top of the eighth inning. After giving up a run in the first inning, Foreman went on to retire 15 of his next 17 batters, including nine straight over his last three innings.

Relievers Kyle Butler and Michael Ness (1-0) closed out the final three innings for Duke with Ness picking up his first win of the season. The sophomore right-hander pitched the final 1.2 innings of the game, giving up two hits to his seven batters faced. His ERA dropped to 1.32 on the season through a team-leading six appearances out of the bullpen.

Designated hitter and pitcher Billy Barber turned in the only multi-hit day for Richmond (5-10-1) with a 2-for-4 outing that produced an RBI in the first inning. Leadoff man Andrew Lowry contributed a game-tying RBI single in the top of the eighth with his only hit of the game. Spider starter Stephen Owens held Duke to two runs and six hits over six innings, while reliever Matt Trent (0-1) gave up the go-ahead run in the eighth to take the loss.

Richmond jumped on top 1-0 in the first after stringing together a pair of consecutive hits with two outs on the board. Ryan Metzroth started the rally with a double to deep left field and scored from second on a Billy Barber single to right. The first inning would be the last time that the Spiders got multiple hits in an inning, as Foreman gave up just two more singles over the next five frames.

Foreman walked Richmond's leadoff batter at the start of the second, but fanned the next hitter and induced a double-play ground ball to erase the leadoff walk. A pair of Blue Devil freshmen turned the double play, as third baseman Ben Condon fielded the hard-hit grounder to his left and fired to classmate Dennis O'Grady at second base to start Duke's 12th double play of the season.

Duke managed a hit in each of the first three innings, but could not string together a scoring series. Each hit came with two outs on the board, as Owens was able to retire the next batter and stifle any hint of a Blue Devil rally.

The game became a pitcher's duel through the middle innings, as a double down the left field line from Hank Coogan was Richmond's only hit from the fourth through sixth inning. Foreman retired nine straight over that span, including six straight flyouts in the fourth and fifth. Meanwhile, Duke went hitless until the sixth inning when three straight base knocks erased a 1-0 deficit and put the Blue Devils on top 2-1.

Williams started the sixth-inning rally with a one-out single up the middle that was followed immediately by a ground-rule double down the left-field line by Hassan. The two-bagger temporarily put runners on second and third before Owens balked to send Williams across the plate and tie the game. With Hassan on third, Gould sent him 90 feet to the plate with a laser into right field that extended the sophomore's hitting streak to a team-best 12 games.

Butler took over for Foreman on the mound at the start of the seventh inning and faced just three hitters to keep the 2-1 lead intact heading into the eighth. The junior right-hander gave up a 1-0 single to Mike Mergenthaler to open the inning, but received some help from his catcher as Williams gunned down the base runner at second base to catch his fourth runner stealing this season. Butler then ended the inning by fanning out Joe White for his second strikeout of the frame.

Butler stayed on the mound to start the eighth, but issued a leadoff walk to Victor Croglio and allowed the potential tying run to reach scoring position after a sacrifice bunt by Chris Cuppia moved him to second base. Duke then sent sophomore right-hander Ness to the mound to diffuse the situation, but a base hit from Lowry sent Croglio across the plate to tie the game at 2-2. Ness settled down though and struck out Coogan before forcing Metzroth to dribble a fielder's choice ground ball to shortstop Jake Lemmerman to end the inning.

With the score tied at 2-2, Duke avoided extra innings by scoring two runs on just one hit in the eighth. Hassan drew a walk to open the inning and hustled to third on the next at bat when Gould ripped the first pitch he saw up the middle for his second hit of the ballgame. With runners at second and third, Trent's next pitch to Kyle Kreick slipped by catcher Ryan Grant and rolled to the backstop, allowing Hassan to trot home with the go-ahead run. Gould moved to third on the play and scored as well after Kreick punched a sacrifice fly ball to right field.

With a two-run lead to protect in the top of the ninth, Duke left Ness on the mound to start the inning. Richmond would not go quietly, however, as Barber ripped a leadoff single through the left side to bring the potential tying run to the plate. The rally was short-lived, however, as Ness smothered the comeback effort by retiring the next three batters to close out the victory.

Duke will look to keep the momentum rolling this weekend as No. 16 Virginia head to Durham for a three-game ACC series at Jack Coombs Field. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m. on Friday, March 14, with following games at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.

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