Duke Tops Maryland 2-1 To Clinch Series

Sunday, April 27

Durham, N.C.

1:00 PM

Duke University

Maryland

Duke Tops Maryland 2-1 To Clinch Series

4/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? Jonathan Foreman held Maryland to three hits over seven shutout innings before Nate Freiman was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to give Duke a 2-1 series-clinching win over Maryland Sunday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field.

Foreman retired 11 straight over his last four innings and sat down the side in order in four of his career-high seven innings pitched. The sophomore right-hander fanned four batters in the game and stranded four Terrapins on base, including three in scoring position. The scoreless outing lowered Foreman's ERA to 1.42 on the season and extended a streak of 13 consecutive innings without an earned run, all of which have come against ACC opponents. Over his last 23 innings of work, Foreman has given up just one earned run.

Despite the quality start, Foreman came away with a no-decision when Maryland's Bill Rice tied the game with a two-out RBI single in the top of the ninth inning off of Duke closer Alex Hassan (3-0). The Blue Devils (31-13-1, 8-13-1 ACC) were able to stage a two-out rally of their own in the bottom of the ninth, however, that began with an intentional walk to Hassan and ended when Matt Williams and Freiman were each hit by pitches to send in the game-winning run. Freiman's RBI hit-by-pitch gave Hassan his second consecutive win after the two-way Blue Devil blew his first save of the season.

Maryland (26-21, 8-16 ACC) starter Kevin Biringer came out on the short end of the pitcher's duel after scattering eight hits and one unearned run over six complete innings. He was able to strike out seven Blue Devils while stranding seven runners on base, but ran into some tough luck after coming out to start the seventh inning. After giving up a base hit to Duke shortstop Jake Lemmerman to start the frame, he fielded a bunt single by freshman Tom Luciano and misfired to first base to allow both runners to move into scoring position. Reliever Dan Gentzler (2-1) then took over and retired the next three hitters, but allowed Duke to take the lead on an RBI groundout by Williams. Gentzler continued to deal into the ninth inning, but gave up a leadoff single to Ryan McCurdy and the three consecutive free passes to Hassan, Williams and Freiman.

In addition to his go-ahead RBI in the seventh, Williams gunned down two runners trying to steal in the game for his 15th and 16th runners caught stealing of the season. Meanwhile, McCurdy finished the game 2-for-3 with a double and the winning run to extend his hitting streak to five games. McCurdy also drew a walk for the sixth straight game and has now taken nine free passes over that span.

Senior designated hitter Jonathan Nicolla also managed a single in a 1-for-3 outing that extended his ACC-leading hit streak to 16 games. The 16-game tear is not only a career-long for the 6-4, 200 pound Nicolla, but also the longest of the season by any Blue Devil.

Both Foreman and Biringer had quick first innings and retired the side on a combined 21 pitches. Foreman needed just nine pitches to sit down the first three Terrapins, while Biringer used 12 to retire all three Blue Devils.

Maryland cleanup hitter Mike Greenberg tagged the first hit of the ballgame with a leadoff double in the second, but was left there after Foreman retired the next three batters. Following Greenberg's two-bagger to the right field gap, Foreman struck out five-hitter Gerry Spessard and induced a pair of weak popups to end the inning.

Duke also collected its first hit in their next series when Nicolla punched a two-out single into center field. The base knock extended the senior's ACC-leading hitting streak to 16 games and broke Biringer's rhythm, as he followed by issuing his first walk to McCurdy to put a pair on base. He then hit Lemmerman with his next pitch to load the bases for freshman Tom Luciano, but escaped the inning unharmed after inducing a popout to his second baseman.

Maryland's eight and nine hitters AJ Casario and Joe Palumbo followed with a pair of leadoff singles to put runners at the corners with no outs in the third, but Foreman once again got out of the jam without surrendering a run. Foreman got a big out after the two singles by forcing leadoff man Steve Braun to foul out on the first pitch, but also received some help from his catcher in the inning. With Palumbo on first base and two-hitter Jensen Pupa at the plate, Foreman fired a pitch in the dirt to prompt a stolen base attempt by Palumbo. Williams was able to keep the ball in front of him though, and quickly picked it up and fired down to second base to throw out Palumbo while also keeping Casario frozen on third base. Now with two outs on the board, Foreman forced Pupa to send a weak grounder back to the mound, which he promptly fielded and tossed to first base to end the inning.

The Terrapins followed by putting another runner in scoring position in the fourth, but once again came away empty-handed after Foreman was able to pick up two consecutive outs to leave a pair on base. Mike Murphy became the first runner on board after being hit by a pitch and was soon joined by Spessard, who drew a walk. With the runners on first and second, Foreman buckled down and got Nick Jowers to go down swinging on a 2-2 curve ball in the dirt before forcing Chad Durakis to fly out to right.

Meanwhile, the Blue Devils managed a two-out hit for the third straight inning but were once again left hanging when Biringer forced an inning-ending flyout. Duke stranded five base runners over the first four innings, including four that were in scoring position.

The pitcher's duel continued into the fifth inning when Foreman retired the side in the top half of the inning on just four pitches. Biringer responded by sitting down Duke's next three hitters on nine pitches, including a called strikeout that gave him five punchouts in the first five innings.

Foreman extended a streak of eight straight retired batters by sitting down Maryland's next three hitters in the top of the sixth. He racked up two more strikeouts in the inning to give him four in the game.

Duke followed by breaking up a string of five straight outs when sophomores Jeremy Gould and Gabriel Saade strung together consecutive base hits in their next offensive series. But for the fourth time in the game, Biringer was able to strand the runners to keep the 0-0 tie intact. Both outs were called strikeouts, giving Biringer seven punchouts in the first six innings.

Foreman kept dealing in the seventh and used just six more pitches to extend his streak to 11 straight batters retired. He finally got some run support in the bottom half of the inning when Williams sent in Duke's first run with an RBI groundout off Gentzler. Gentzler inherited a second-and-third situation with no outs after Lemmerman started the inning with a base hit and moved all the way to third when Biringer made an error on a bunt single from Luciano. Biringer had trouble picking up the roller to his left and misfired to his first baseman when he finally got ahold of it. The error moved the runners into scoring position and signaled the end of the day for the Maryland starter. Gentzler then came in and got a big out by forcing Hassan to pop up, but had no choice but to concede a run when Williams followed with a groundout to shortstop. The groundout also moved Luciano to third and brought up Freiman, who hammered Gentzler's first offering to deep center field but came up just a few feet short of his ninth home run of the season.

Duke followed suit by bringing Hassan to the mound from center field to replace Foreman, who moved in line for the win after holding Maryland to three hits over seven scoreless innings. Hassan retired the first two batters on two pitches before Braun ripped a single to left field for Maryland's first hit since the third inning. Braun represented the tying run, but not for long as Williams caught him stealing second with a perfectly-placed throw to the bag to end the inning.

After Gentzler retired the side in order in the bottom of the eighth, the Terrapins mounted a late rally in the top of the ninth that produced a two-out RBI single by pinch-hitter Bill Rice to knot the game at 1-1. The base hit drove in pinch runner Scott Swinson, who replaced Pupa on first base after the Terp two-hitter opened the inning with a two-strike base hit. The game-tying single marked the first blown save of the season for Hassan, who entered the game with the team's lowest ERA at 1.02.

Despite giving up the lead with just one out to go, Duke was not deterred and received a spark from McCurdy, who opened the bottom of the ninth with an infield single behind second base. He advanced into scoring position on the next at bat when Lemmerman laid down a sacrifice bunt right in front of the mound. Luciano then came to the plate and did all he could to move the runner, but eventually went down swinging after fouling off five pitches in a 10-pitch at bat. Luciano's strikeout brought up Hassan with two outs, but Maryland opted to intentionally walk the Blue Devil leadoff man to set up the force with runners on first and second. Gentzler almost got out of the inning after jumping ahead 0-2 in the count against Williams, but let his next pitch get away from him and hit Williams in the back to load the bases. That brought Duke's leading hitter Freiman to the plate, who quickly jumped ahead 3-0 in the count before taking a strike that advanced the count to 3-1. Gentzler's next pitch was wild though, and grazed Freiman's shirt to force in the winning run.

With the win, Duke moves ahead of Maryland in the ACC standings and is now in line to make the ACC Tournament. The Blue Devils' postseason destiny is now in their hands with two ACC series remaining on the schedule.

The Blue Devils will have their first open week of the season following Sunday's finale and will not take the field again until Monday, May 5 when Longwood visits Durham for a noon doubleheader. The Blue Devils will then host Davidson at 7 p.m. before resuming ACC play with a three-game set at Wake Forest on May 10-12.

-d-u-k-e-