Maryland Outslugs Duke In 12-8 Win Friday

Friday, April 25

Durham, N.C.

7:00 PM

Duke University

Maryland

Duke Welcomes Columbia For Four-Game Series This Weekend

Maryland Outslugs Duke In 12-8 Win Friday

4/25/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? Maryland leadoff man Steve Braun went 4-for-6 with three RBI while cleanup hitter Mike Murphy hammered a pair of two-run homers to help the Terrapins outscore Duke on the way to a 12-8 win over the Blue Devils Friday evening at Jack Coombs Field.

Both of Murphy's home runs were go-ahead shots for Maryland (26-19, 8-14 ACC) and came in the junior third baseman's first two at bats. Braun, meanwhile, opened the game with a leadoff triple before pounding out three more singles in his final three at bats.

Duke (29-14-1, 6-14-1 ACC) will have a chance to even the series and the ACC playoff picture in tomorrow's game at Jack Coombs Field, which has been moved up to 1 p.m. The game was originally scheduled for 2 p.m.

Second baseman Gabriel Saade had a big day at the plate for the Blue Devils with three RBI, including a two-run homer to put Duke on top in the fifth inning. The home run was his seventh of the season and his second in as many games, as the 5-11, 180 pound sophomore has now hammered seven extra base hits in his last eight outings.

Junior catcher Matt Williams also pounded a double for the fifth straight game to extend his career-long batting streak to 13 consecutive outings. The two-bagger was the 13th of the season for Williams, who has now hammered a team-leading eight doubles in the month of April.

Senior designated hitter Jonathan Nicolla also belted a single in the game to extend his career-long hitting streak to 14 games. Nicolla's 14-game tear is the longest active streak in the ACC, leading Williams by one game. First baseman Nate Freiman also extended his streak to double digits with a hit in his 10th straight game.

Sophomore outfielders Jeremy Gould and Alex Hassan contributed multiple hits, with Gould finishing 3-for-5 and Hassan turning in a 2-for-5 performance. Both Blue Devils added doubles, while Hassan filled up the stat sheet with two runs, an RBI and his 11th stolen base of the season.

Maryland starter Scott Swinson (4-3) picked up the win, despite allowing seven runs over five innings. He was picked up by reliever Brad Taylor, who held Duke to one unearned run over the final four innings to notch his fourth save of the year.

The Terrapins racked up seven runs on Duke starter Andrew Wolcott, with four coming on Murphy's home runs. Dennis O'Grady (3-2) and Michael Ness also got hit out of the bullpen, with each reliever giving up two runs. O'Grady allowed both batters he faced to reach base before Ness allowed both of the runners to score on a two-run single by Braun and an RBI double by AJ Casario.

Senior Ryan Perry was Duke's most effective reliever as he sat down five straight Terrapins from the seventh through ninth innings. But even Perry could not escape unharmed, as Maryland tagged him for his only run on a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning. The RBI flyout ended a streak of 5.2 scoreless innings for Perry.

The Terrapin offense got started early and put up three runs in the first inning on an RBI single from Jensen Pupa and a two-run homer from Murphy. Braun got the game started with a leadoff triple to right field before Maryland knocked in three runs on the next two pitches. Pupa sent the first offering back up the middle to plate Braun just before Murphy go ahold of Wolcott's next pitch and sent it out of the park to the left of the batter's eye in straight-away center field.

The Blue Devils responded to the three-run first with a three-run rally of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Duke's first three batters reached base to load the bases after a pair of singles from Hassan and Nate Freiman book-ended a hit by pitch against Williams. Saade then added to his team-leading walk and RBI totals by drawing an RBI free pass on a 3-2 count to force in Hassan for Duke's first run of the ballgame. With the bases still loaded, Duke squeezed out two more runs thanks to an RBI fielder's choice ground ball from Nicolla that resulted in a throwing error by the Terrapins. While Williams scored from third automatically on the grounder to the right side, Freiman was given a free pass to the plate when shortstop Joe Palumbo misfired to first base while trying to complete a 3-6-1 double play.

Both pitchers settled down in the second and combined to retire six of seven batters in the second inning. Gerry Spessard managed a leadoff double down the right field line off of Wolcott in the second, but got no further than third after the Blue Devil starter retired the next three in order to strand Spessard.

Maryland's offense did not stay dormant for long, however, as Murphy hammered his second two-run homer in as many at bats to put the Terrapins ahead 5-3. Murphy's second bomb was a line drive shot that just cleared the left field fence and once again drove in Pupa after the Terp three-hitter reached base with a walk.

Immediately after putting Maryland ahead for the second time with his two-run long ball in the third, Murphy kept his team in the lead with a pair of run-saving defensive plays in the bottom half of the inning. Duke threatened to score after Gould followed a Maryland fielding error with a base hit to right field, but Murphy was able to keep the runners at first and second after robbing what should have been a pair of RBI hits from Duke's next two batters. Murphy's first grab robbed Saade of a potential double when he made a quick read on a laser down the line to come up with the hard-hit line drive for the second out. Nicolla then followed with a grounder that had a shot of rolling through the left side, but Murphy lunged to his glove side to come up with the ball and toss to second from his knees for the final out of the inning.

Hassan flashed some leather of his own in the top of the fourth to rob Palumbo of a two-out double. The sophomore center field got a great jump on Palumbo's fly ball to the right-center gap and laid out in a full sprint to come up with the catch for the final out of the inning.

After his all-out catch ended the top of the fourth, Hassan came through at the plate in the bottom half of the inning with a two-out RBI double to cut the deficit to 5-4. Hassan's team-leading 14th two-bagger of the season easily plated right fielder Tom Luciano from third after the freshman right-fielder started the rally with his first career triple. Luciano not only flashed his speed with the stand-up three-bagger, but his development at the plate as well. After watching the first pitch go by for a ball, Luciano zeroed in on a fastball on the outer half of the plate and punched it into the right-field corner for his third extra base hit of the season.

The Blue Devils' defense continued to help them out in the fifth as Williams threw out his 14th runner this season to erase a one-out single by the Terrapins. Williams caught Casario by more than a step at second base after the Maryland right fielder took off from first in an attempt to put himself in scoring position with two outs. The attempt was foiled and allowed Wolcott to face the minimum for the second straight inning.

While Maryland's offense began to sputter, the Blue Devils were just getting warmed up and took their first lead of the game on a two-run home run by Saade and a two-out double from shortstop Jake Lemmerman in the bottom of the fifth. Saade battled hard for his seventh home run of the season after falling behind 1-2 in the count and fouling off two consecutive pitches before sending Swinson's next fastball well over the left-center field fence. The two-run bomb put Duke ahead 6-5, but the Blue Devils were not through and put together another two-out rally to run their lead to 7-5. Sophomore third baseman McCurdy instigated the final scoring drive after taking a two-out walk before Lemmerman drove him in all the way from first with a well-hit double down the left field line. The walk was the sixth in the last three games for McCurdy, who upped his team-leading on base percentage to .450 with his performance.

Maryland's bats reawakened after giving up their lead and strung together consecutive two-out hits with the bases loaded to cap a four-run inning that put them ahead 9-7. A one-out walk taken by Will Greenberg preceded a base hit from Nick Jowers that put runners at the corners and signaled the end of the day for Wolcott. Duke then turned to O'Grady to kill the rally, but Maryland kept rolling with an RBI single from Spessard to come within one run at 7-6 before loading the bases with an ensuing walk to pinch hitter Bill Rice. With the bases now loaded and the go-ahead run on second base, Duke called on Ness to get out of the jam. Ness got a big out by forcing Palumbo to pop up to the catcher, but could not get the next three, as Braun singled in the tying and go-ahead runs with a first-pitch single through the left side. Cesario then followed with a double just inside the third base line to send in Rice for the fourth run of the inning before Ness struck out Murphy to end the rally.

Though down, Duke was not out and played small ball to drive in another run in the bottom of the sixth and cut the deficit to 9-8. Hassan was largely responsible for the run after being granted a free spot on first base when his ground ball to the left side was misplayed by Palumbo for an error. Hassan then stole second on the next pitch before Williams pushed him over to third with a two-strike groundout to the right side. Freiman moved him the last 90 feet to the plate with a groundout to short. Gould did his best to keep the rally going with a two-out double to right-center, but was left stranded on second after newly-inserted pitcher Brad Taylor issued a key strikeout to Saade to end the inning.

The Terrapins soon took the run back though, after loading the bases with one out on the way to a two more runs for an 11-8 lead. Duke brought in Perry to get out of the bases-loaded jam, and he almost did just that by inducing a ground ball from his first batter. The Blue Devils were only able to get one out on the play, however, allowing the first run of the inning to score. Braun then followed with his second consecutive two-out RBI single to cap the two-run inning before Perry struck out Casario to take the game into the bottom of the seventh.

Duke continued to fight and received a pair of leadoff hits from Nicolla and McCurdy in the seventh, but came away with nothing after Taylor rolled a timely double play ground and struck out another batter to end the inning.

After a scoreless eighth for both teams, Maryland added an insurance run in the top half of the ninth thanks to a sacrifice fly from Palumbo. Despite a leadoff single from Saade in the ninth, Duke could not recover from the 12-8 deficit and ended the game on a double play for the final two outs.

The Blue Devils will look to avenge the loss and even out the ACC playoff picture tomorrow at 1 p.m. Duke will give the ball to sophomore left-hander Christopher Manno (4-0, 2.89 ERA) who will pitch opposite Maryland southpaw Brett Tidball (2-0, 3.91 ERA).