Duke Tops Georgia Tech 10-3 In Sunday Finale

Sunday, March 23

Atlanta, Ga.

1:00 PM

Duke University

Georgia Tech

Sherlock And Kreick Go Yard In Blue Devil Scrimmage

Duke Tops Georgia Tech 10-3 In Sunday Finale

3/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

ATLANTA, Ga. -- Gabriel Saade went 5-for-5 with a home run, while Tim Sherlock mashed his first long ball of the season and drove in a career-high four RBI to lead Duke to a 10-3 win over 17th-ranked Georgia Tech in the series finale Sunday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.

The five hits from Saade was also a career high, as the sophomore second baseman contributed three singles, a double and a home run while driving in three runs and crossing the plate twice. Sherlock went 2-for-4 on the day with a three-run homer, a double and two runs, while also contributing an RBI with a squeeze bunt in the eighth inning. The Blue Devils churned out 10 runs off of their 11 hits to block a series sweep from the Yellow Jackets, who won the series two games to one.

Freshman starter Grant Monroe (4-1) earned the win after holding Georgia Tech (17-5, 5-4 ACC) to three runs on seven hits over five innings. Michael Ness contributed three perfect innings in relief, while outfielder Alex Hassan closed out the game on the mound with a hitless inning of relief to lock up the win.

Duke (19-5, 4-5 ACC) also received a pair of RBI from catcher Matt Williams, who gunned down his ninth running trying to steal of the season in the game. Freshman shortstop Jake Lemmerman also added an RBI, while third baseman Ryan McCurdy crossed the plate twice and designated hitter Jonathan Nicolla contributed two hits and a run.

Derek Dietrich mashed a solo homer for the Yellow Jackets, while Brad Feltes and Charlie Blackmon added Georgia Tech's other two RBI. Dietrich and Feltes both had mutli-hit days with two hits apiece.

Duke banged up Georgia Tech starter Zach Von Tersch (2-1) for four runs in two innings to hand him his first loss of the season. The Yellow Jackets then used four pitchers over the remainder of the game, with Kevin Jacob allowing three runs over four innings and Deck McGuire, Taylor Wood and Chris Hicks all added one inning to close out the game.

Von Tersch struggled early with his command, issuing consecutive walks to Blue Devil leadoff man Alex Hassan and Williams to start the game. The 6-5, 213 pound right-hander eventually settled down though, and induced a double-play ground ball before forcing a flyout to get out of the inning unharmed.

Meanwhile, the Yellow Jackets came out swinging and recorded five hits in the first inning, but only managed to come away with two runs from the opening rally. Georgia Tech's first five batters reached with base hits, including a pair of consecutive doubles from Thomas Nichols and Blackmon, but a pair of run-saving defensive plays by Williams behind the plate significantly limited the damage. The Yellow Jackets could have scored at least one more run in the inning, but a perfectly-placed throw down to second base from Williams on an attempted stolen base erased a leadoff single by center fielder Jeff Rowland. The runner caught stealing was the second of the series for Williams and his ninth of the season. Following four more base hits, Williams helped his pitcher again after tracking a foul popup all the way into the Georgia Tech dugout before extending over the railing to make the catch. The play still left runners at the corners with two outs, but Monroe ended the inning by inducing a groundout to Saade at second base.

Duke's offense finally came alive in the top of the second, as a three-run home run by Sherlock capped a four-run outburst that put the Blue Devils on top 4-2. Sherlock's bomb to right-center field was his first of the season, the fourth of his career and started the largest single-game RBI output of the junior right fielder's career. The long ball scored Nicolla and McCurdy immediately after Lemmerman drove in the first run of the inning with a bases-loaded groundout to the right side. Saade crossed the plate on Lemmerman's roller after opening the inning with a single and moving to third on a base hit by Nicolla and a fielding error by Von Tesch that came on an attempted sacrifice bunt by McCurdy.

Von Tesch made an early exit after the four-run second inning, handing the ball over to Georgia Tech freshman Kevin Jacob at the start of the third. Jacob retired the first two batters before giving up a Texas-leaguer to Saade that the sophomore second baseman legged out into a double. Duke could not capitalize on Saade's two-bagger though, as Jacob induced a ground ball to end the inning.

Monroe regained his composure to toss a scoreless second inning for Duke, but gave up a leadoff home run to Dietrich in the third that whittled the Blue Devil lead to 4-3. The solo shot cleared the brick wall behind the right field fence and was the team-leading seventh long ball of the season for the freshman shortstop. The pitch was Monroe's only mistake in the inning, however, as the freshman starter retired the next three hitters, including his first strikeout of the game.

Meanwhile, Duke struggled to put anything together against Jacob, as the freshman right-hander retired seven straight through the fifth after allowing Saade's two-out double in the third inning. Monroe kept pace with his freshman counterpart though, maintaining Duke's 4-3 lead before his exit in the sixth.

After Jacob neutralized consecutive base hits by Duke in the top of the sixth, Michael Ness took the mound for the Blue Devils in the bottom half of the inning, inheriting Monroe's 4-3 lead. Ness picked up where Monroe left off, retiring three straight on just eight pitches to take the one-run lead into the seventh inning.

The Blue Devils gave Ness some room to work with after scoring three in the top of the seventh. Duke knocked three hits in the inning, including a leadoff double by Sherlock and a two-RBI single by Williams. Following Williams' two-run single, Georgia Tech swapped out pitchers, sending McGuire to the mound with no outs and a runner on first. Georgia Tech's ERA leader, McGuire retired his first hitter, but misfired to first base on an attempted pickoff and allowed Williams to advance all the way to third. The Yellow Jackets almost got out of the inning shortly after when McGuire forced a foul out, but Saade made them pay for the mistake with his fourth hit of the game, an RBI base knock through the right side that easily scored Williams.

Duke played small ball to manage one more run in the eighth, using a perfectly-executed squeeze bunt from Sherlock to score McCurdy from third. The inning started with a single up the middle from McCurdy, who advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Lemmerman. A wild pitched moved him to third where he took off three pitches later and scored after Sherlock dropped down sacrifice bunt 10 feet in front of the plate.

After the Blue Devils gave Ness a five-run cushion, the sophomore reliever continued to deal, retiring the side in order in the seventh and eighth. Ness was Duke's most effective pitcher in the series, contributing five scoreless innings of relief, allowing just one hit while retiring 15 straight through his first and second appearances. He got all nine batters he faced out on Sunday.

With an 8-3 lead in hand, Saade put Duke into double figures with his fifth hit of the ball game, which was a two-run home run to center field. The two-run bomb came with two outs on the board after the inning was extended due to a fielding error by Feltes at third base. The error allowed Kyle Kreick to reach base safely just before Saade launched the second pitch he saw into the light pole in center field. The home run was the third of the season for Saade and his team-leading 14th extra base knock.

Hassan moved from center field to the mound to close out the ninth for the Devils, facing the minimum three batters despite issuing a leadoff walk. The two-way sophomore issued a leadoff walk to Tony Plagman, but picked off the Yellow Jacket first baseman after striking out pinch-hitter Jeff Ussery for his eighth K of the season.

Duke will look for its 20th win of the season this week as the Blue Devils play a pair of non-conference matchups, hosting Brown on Tuesday, March 25 at Jack Coombs Field before heading across town to face N.C. Central on Wednesday at Durham Athletic Park, home of the Triple-A Durham Bulls. Both bouts will begin at 3 p.m. before Duke continues ACC play with a three-game series against Miami next weekend.

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