Lemmerman's Grand Slam Lifts Duke To 8-4 Win Over Maryland

Saturday, April 18

College Park, Md.

4:00 PM

Duke University

Maryland

Lemmerman Named To ACC All-Tournament Team

Lemmerman's Grand Slam Lifts Duke To 8-4 Win Over Maryland

4/18/2009 3:45:00 PM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

COLLEGE PARK, Md. ? Jake Lemmerman hammered a grand slam in the top of the 12th inning to lead Duke to an 8-4 win over Maryland Saturday evening at Shipley Field.

Lemmerman's bomb cleared the scoreboard in left field and broke a 4-4 tie in extra innings after Duke loaded the bases with no outs in the 12th. It was the fourth multiple RBI outing in Duke's last six games for Lemmerman, who finished 3-for-6 with four RBI and two runs. He was one of three Blue Devils who homered the game, joining Nate Freiman and Jeremy Gould, who tagged back-to-back solo shots in the fourth inning.

The first run Lemmerman scored put the Blue Devils (27-14, 10-10 ACC) ahead 4-3 in the top of the 11th inning in a game that featured five lead changes. Duke led 3-2 until the bottom of the eighth inning when Maryland's Jensen Pupa laced a one-out, RBI single to erase a six-inning, two-run start from Duke left-hander Christopher Manno. Duke would go on to reclaim a 4-3 lead following Lemmerman's go-ahead run in the 10th inning before the Terrapins (17-21, 5-15 ACC) tied the game again in the bottom of the 10th with a pair of doubles from Mike Rozak and David Poutier.

Lemmerman's grand slam finally gave Duke a sustainable lead, which two-way outfielder Alex Hassan protected in the final inning. Hassan (2-2) threw three innings in relief, holding Maryland to one run on four hits after going 1-for-4 with a run and two walks at the plate. He, along with sophomore Dennis O'Grady and junior Michael Ness combined to hold the Terps to two runs over the final six innings of the game.

Duke scored all five runs in the 11th and 12th off of Maryland reliever Ian Schwalenberg (2-3), who came into the game after Adam Kolarek and Dan Gentzler held Duke scoreless from the fifth through 10th inning. Maryland got one RBI apiece from Poutier, Pupa and Tyler Bennett, who homered in the second inning.

With the win, Duke has won 10 ACC games in consecutive seasons for the first time since the 1992-94 campaigns. At 10-10 in the conference, Duke has its best ACC record to this point in the season since the team won a school-record 16 conference games in 1994.

Duke got on the board first, thanks to a one-out triple by Hassan in the second inning. Hassan, batting fifth in the batting order, crushed a deep fly ball over the head of Maryland center fielder Dan Benick that hit the center field wall in the air and gave Hassan plenty of time to cruise into third base. He would score two pitches later when Will Piwnica-Worms slapped an RBI groundout to first base to give Duke a 1-0 lead. Gabriel Saade would also double and steal third with two outs in the inning, but Harman got out of the jam by forcing designated hitter Eric Pfisterer to ground out for the third out.

Duke's lead was short-lived, however, as Bennett tied the game with a home run over the left-center field wall. Bennett's home run came on a 1-2 count and easily cleared the fence to tie the score at 1-1.

The Terps went ahead in the bottom of the third, thanks to a throwing error by the Blue Devils that allowed the go-ahead run to score from second base. Maryland sent seven batters to the plate in the inning, despite managing just one single off of Manno. That single, off the bat of Benick, came back to hurt, however, as he ended up scoring on a botched double play. With Benick on second base and Poutier on first after drawing a walk, A.J. Casario slapped a ground ball to the right side that Freiman snagged and fired to second base for the force out. Shortstop Jake Lemmerman caught Freiman's throw at second, but misfired the ball back to first base and sent it into the fence on the first base line. Benick easily scored on the error, but Duke's troubles continued. Manno followed by hitting two straight batters to load the bases with two outs, but got himself out of the jam by striking out Jensen Pupa for the third out.

The Blue Devils reclaimed their lead in the next half inning, however, when Freiman and Gould crushed back-to-back mammoth home runs over the left-center field wall. Freiman started the inning off with towering blast over the fence in the left field power alley that tied the game at 2-2 and gave the 6-8, 250 pound senior his career-high 12th long ball of the season. Gould then followed with another bomb to the same spot, which was his career-high fifth of the season and put Duke back on top 3-2. Freiman, who entered the game in fourth place on Duke's all-time home run list, climbed into a tie for third alongside Jeff Becker with 34 career long balls.

Duke had a chance to increase its 3-2 lead in the top of the fifth, but Casario robbed Duke catcher Matt Williams of a potential two-run double by running down the well-hit fly ball in deep right field. Williams came to the plate follow consecutive singles from Lemmerman and McCurdy and drove the first pitch he saw the other way to right field. Casario had shaded Williams to take the ball to right field and was just able to run the ball down and catch it in the tip of his glove with his arm outstretched toward the right field fence. The catch forced Lemmerman and Williams to retreat back to their original bases, where they would be left stranded when Kolarek got Freiman to nub a slow roller to shortstop for the final out.

With a one-run lead to protect after the back-to-back homers in the fourth inning, Manno was able to put the control problems that plagued him in the third behind him. He gave up just one during the fourth inning while using a combined 21 pitches to get through the fourth and fifth innings.

Manno had another quick outing in the sixth, using his first two pitches to get two outs on the way to an eight-pitch inning. Manno gave up a single to Pupa in the frame, but followed with another one-pitch out against Murakami. Freiman helped him get the first out of the inning by diving to his right to snag a hard-hit line drive by first baseman Will Greenberg for the first out. Hassan gloved the other two in right field, running down one on the warning track just feet from the right field wall.

Duke's offense had several chances to increase the one-run lead, but stranded two runners on base in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. The Blue Devils knocked out three hits and took three walks during that span, but failed to move anyone past third base. Duke had Williams on first base with one out in the seventh inning with one out and then got a two-out single from Freiman, but had the rally killed by Dan Gentzler, who forced Gould to ground into a fielder's choice at second base.

After shutting out the Terrapins in the fourth, fifth and sixth, Manno handed the ball to O'Grady in the seventh inning with a 3-2 lead to protect. O'Grady got the first batter he faced, but then relied on his infield defense to get the next two after he let consecutive Terps reach on a single and a hit batter. With the tying run on second and the go-ahead run at first, O'Grady got a visit from pitching coach Sean Snedeker and responded by rolling a double play ground ball to Saade, who flipped to Lemmerman to start Duke's second turn of the game.

O'Grady could not depend on the double play to get him out of another jam in the bottom of the eighth, however, and gave way to a one-out RBI single from Pupa that tied the game at 3-3. Pupa's base knock scored Murphy, who drew a walk and stole second base before being pushed to third on another single from pinch hitter Curtis Lazar. Pupa's knock signaled the end of the game for O'Grady, who left Ness on the mound with men on first and second and just one out on the board. Ness limited any further damage, however, by fanning two straight Terps with the same two-strike breaking ball that he broke off into the dirt to catch both batters swinging.

Gentzler, meanwhile, had picked up where he left off from Friday's game and sat down seven straight Blue Devils from the end of the seventh through the ninth inning to keep the game in hand. He threw just four pitches to retire the side in order in the top of the ninth just after the Maryland offense tied the game at 3-3.

Maryland strung together a pair of two-out singles in the bottom of the ninth, but had their rally stifled by Ness, who rolled a ground ball to Freiman at first base to end the threat and take the game into extra innings.

Freiman came out in the 10th inning and racked a double off the left field wall as the first of two straight one-out hits for the Blue Devils. With men at first and third after the base knock from Gould, Hassan stepped into the box, but struck out swinging on Gentzler's full count offering. Gould stole second on the third strike to put both he and Freiman into scoring position and clear first base for Piwnica-Worms, who was hit in the arm to load the bases. But despite having the go-ahead run just 90 feet away from the plate, Gentzler buckled down and got himself out of the jam by painting the outside corner with a 3-2 fastball against Saade to strand all three runners and keep the game tied at 3-3.

Hassan took the mound in the bottom of the 10th for the Blue Devils in his 14th appearance of the season and struck out two of the first three hitters he saw as part of a 1-2-3 inning. Hassan, who entered the game with a 2.60 ERA and a team-high average of 11.94 strikeouts per nine innings, had to use 17 pitches in his first inning, but managed to retire the side in order.

Lemmerman gave Duke another chance to take the lead in the top of the 11th, and this time the Blue Devils did not waste it. Lemmerman scored all the way from first base on a two-out double by Williams that hit just below the top of the left field fence. It was the first hit of the game for Williams, but came at the right time as Duke jumped on top 4-3.

But Maryland wasted no time in tying the game once more, stringing together a pair of doubles in the bottom of the 11th to run the score to 4-4. Rozak led off the inning with the first of those two-baggers before he was sacrificed to third by Benick and scored on the ensuing RBI double by Poutier. Poutier quickly moved over to third base as well on a groundout to second base by Casario, but was left stranded along with two of his teammates after Hassan induced a foulout from catcher Mike Moss to end the bases-loaded threat.

Unlike Maryland, the Blue Devils did not waste their next opportunity to take the lead and got four runs in one swing of the bat for Lemmerman, who mashed his first career grand slam to put Duke back on top 8-4. Lemmerman's four-run bomb easily cleared the scoreboard in left field and plated Piwnica-Worms, Saade and Pedevillano, after the trio reached on consecutive singles and a fielder's choice, respectively. The home run was the second of the season for Lemmerman and drove in his 11th RBI in Duke's last six games.

With the momentum in Duke's favor, Hassan sat down three of Maryland's next four batters to close out the game. The win was the ninth of Hassan's career.

With the series now tied at one game apiece, Duke and Maryland will battle for deciding win in game three on Sunday at 1 p.m. Duke will send Pfisterer (2-1, 4.85 ERA) to the mound for his second consecutive Sunday start against Maryland right-hander Brett Jones (0-1. 8.49 ERA).

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