Duke Falls 12-8 At Maryland To Drop Series

Sunday, April 19

College Park, Md.

1:00 PM

Duke University

Maryland

Duke Falls 12-8 At Maryland To Drop Series

4/19/2009 4:15:00 PM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

COLLEGE PARK, Md. ? Matthew Murakami drove in three runs and scored twice to help Maryland get past Duke 12-8 in the series finale Sunday at Shipley Field.

Murakami went 3-for-5 with a double in the series-clinching win, which featured a combined 11 runs from Maryland (18-21, 6-15 ACC) over the first two innings. The Terrapins got 10 of their 16 hits during those first two frames, including a two-run homer from A.J. Casario and a pair of two-run doubles from Murakami and Mike Murphy.

Casario had a pair of hits and two runs and was one of six Maryland hitters with multiple hits. In addition to Murakami's three-hit effort, David Poutier went 2-for-4 with three runs, Will Greenberg finished 3-for-5 with an RBI and Gerry Spessard and Dan Benick each logged a pair of hits, including another home run from Benick. Their combined offensive performance provided enough run support for starter Brett Jones and relievers Matt Fullerton (5-3) and Dan Gentzler.

Duke (27-15, 10-11 ACC) chipped away at Maryland's lead throughout the game and turned a nine-run deficit into as little as three runs by scoring twice in four different innings. After Maryland hammered Duke starter Eric Pfisterer (2-2) for five runs in two-thirds of an inning and reliever Will Currier for five runs in one-third of an inning, the Blue Devils used Joe Pedevillano, Dennis O'Grady and Michael Ness combined to hold Maryland to two runs on seven hits over the remaining seven innings.

Duke got three RBI from second baseman Gabriel Saade and a pair of RBI from first baseman Nate Freiman. Outfielder Alex Hassan, batting in the fifth spot, scored twice while Ryan McCurdy went 2-for-5 with an RBI and a double out of the leadoff spot. Seven different Blue Devils scored in the game, while eight of the nine starters got hits.

The Terrapins wasted no time in jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning, however, using just two at bats to score their first two runs of the game. Casario drove in both with one swing, hammering a deep fly ball over the center field fence just one pitch after Jensen Pupa drew a leadoff walk. Pfisterer would give up another single to David Poutier, but nearly got out of the inning with just two runs of damage. He struck out Tyler Bennett with two outs, but spiked a curve ball in the dirt for the third strike that bounced over catcher Matt Williams' head and to the backstop. Tyler Bennett was able to reach first base safely after the wild-pitch strikeout, which preceded consecutive RBI singles from Murakami and Spessard. Pfisterer would then walk nine-hitter Benick, which would be the last batter he faced. Currier then took the mound with men at the corners and two outs and used three pitches to get Pupa to pop out to first base.

Duke responded in the second inning, however, and trimmed the early deficit to 5-2 on a two-out, two-run single by Saade. With Jeremy Gould on third after he was hit by a pitch and Hassan on second after singling, Saade roped a ground ball back to the mound where it ricocheted off Jones' foot and landed in shallow left field. The two-out knock sent in Saade's 10th and 11th two-out RBI of the season.

Maryland got both of those runs back in the next half inning and went on to score six more in the bottom of the second for an 11-2lead. Greenberg and Murakami each had two-run knocks in the frame, which included six hits. The first six Terrapin hitters reached base in the inning, five of which had hits and two of which had doubles. Currier was pulled after giving up a two-run double to Murakami as Duke opted to bring Joe Pedevillano into the game with men on second and third and no outs. The Blue Devil defense backed Pedevillano immediately with a run-saving double play that featured a diving stop on a ground ball by Saade and a perfect throw to the plate by Freiman. Duke's defense could do little with the next ball Maryland hit, however, which left the park in center field for a two-run homer, compliments of Benick.

Duke chipped away at the nine-run deficit with two more runs in the top of the fourth, trimming the gap to 11-4. A pair of infield singles from Saade and McCurdy sent in Will Piwnica-Worms and Tim Sherlock, who reached on a base hit and a fielder's choice, respectively. Maryland's shortstop Poutier helped Duke out by committing two errors on the same play, which easily could have resulted in a rally-killing double play. Instead, Poutier dropped Greenberg's throw at second base, allowing Piwnica-Worms to come up safe, and then threw the ball into foul territory when trying to get it back to Greenberg at first base. The second error pushed both Duke runners into scoring position where they would first score on Saade's push bunt and then on McCurdy's infield single.

Two more runs by the Blue Devils in the fifth trimmed Maryland's once nine-run lead to five, thanks to an RBI single by Sherlock and a bases loaded passed ball. Duke had just one hit in the inning, but took advantage of two walks and a Maryland fielding error to push two unearned runs across the plate. Freiman scored the first of those after leading off the inning with a ground ball back to the pitcher's mound that Jones gloved, but threw well over the head of Greenberg to allow Freiman a free pass to second base. Two walks to Hassan and Piwnica-Worms then loaded the bases and prompted the Terps to bring in the left-handed Fullerton, who Sherlock welcomed to the game with an RBI single through the right side. Fullerton then got Saade to fly out to right field for the second out, but could do nothing to prevent a passed ball that allowed Hassan to score Duke' sixth run of the game.

Maryland had a chance to take one of those runs back in the bottom of the sixth, but Piwnica-Worms and Lemmerman teamed up on a relay throw from the warning track to gun down the potential run at the plate. With Murakami on first base after he tagged a one-out single, Benick crushed a two-out double off the left-center field wall. Murakami tried to score from first base on the double, but Piwnica-Worms played the ball perfectly off the wall, picked it up on the warning track and fired it in to Lemmerman on the edge of the infield grass. With Murakami rounding third just as Lemmerman received the ball, the Duke shortstop threw a perfect strike to Williams, who caught the ball just above the ground right in front of the plate and applied the tag to Murakami as he slid in feet first.

Lemmerman's throw capped three shutout innings posted by O'Grady, who entered the game in the fourth and shut down a Maryland offense that had produced 11 runs in the first two innings. O'Grady surrendered just three hits during his outing before handing the ball over to Ness in the seventh. Ness picked up right where O'Grady left off and retired all three batters he faced in the seventh to take the game into the eighth with Duke trailing 11-6.

After Fullerton stifled Duke's bats in the sixth and seventh, he finally gave way to a leadoff walk to Saade and a double to Lemmerman that put both Blue Devils in scoring position with no outs. Maryland then called on Gentzler, who came in for his third appearance of the series and on a four-inning scoreless streak against the Blue Devils. Gentzler did his job by getting the first two outs against the top of the Blue Devil lineup, but could not get past Freiman who roped a two-run single into center field. The two-base knock cut the deficit to 11-8 before Gentzler was able to get the final out of the inning.

The Terrapins finally broke up their scoreless streak with a sacrifice fly by Bennett in the bottom of the eighth, giving them their first run since the second inning. Bennett's RBI flyout followed a leadoff single by Poutier and an ensuing double by Greenberg, which was his third hit of the game.

Duke trailed 12-8 heading into the top of the ninth where they would have to face Gentzler once again. Gentzler would extend his scoreless streak, however, by getting groundouts from Hassan and Piwnica-Worms and a hard-hit lineout to center field by Sherlock to end the game.

Up next for Duke is a mid-week meeting at Elon on Wednesday, April 22, which will begin at 7 p.m. The Blue Devils will then host Boston College for a crucial ACC series at Jack Coombs Field.

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