Duke Rolls Past Boston College 12-2 In Series Opener

Friday, April 24

Durham, N.C.

7:00 PM

Duke University

Boston College

Duke Rolls Past Boston College 12-2 In Series Opener

4/24/2009 6:45:00 PM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? Matt Williams homered twice and drove in four runs to back a seven-inning, 10-strikeout performance from Christopher Manno in a 12-2 Duke win over Boston College Friday evening at Jack Coombs Field.

Williams finished 3-for-4 and mashed two of Duke's season-high four home runs. Fellow senior Nate Freiman and freshman Will Piwnica-Worms each launched Duke's other two home runs, all of which came in the first four innings.

Manno (4-4) had his most effective start of the year, giving up two runs and seven hits through a season-high matching 7.0 innings. He struck out 10, walked three and gave up his only two runs on one swing of the bat when Boston College catcher Tony Sanchez hit a two-run homer in the third inning. Manno threw 113 pitches in the outing, which included a run of 11 consecutive batters retired.

Duke (28-16, 11-11 ACC) knocked 13 hits in the win with Williams and Freiman each recording three knocks and Piwnica-Worms, Alex Hassan and Jake Lemmerman banging out two hits apiece. The one through three lineup combination of Williams, Freiman and leadoff man Gabriel Saade scored eight of Duke's 12 runs, which is the most runs scored by the Blue Devils in a nine-inning ACC game this season.

Boston College (25-16, 10-10 ACC) got its only two runs from Sanchez's two-run homer, which was his ACC-leading 13th of the season. The Eagles managed just four hits off of Manno and could manage anything against Duke reliever Kyle Butler, who retired all six batters he faced in the eighth and ninth. Boston College starter J.B. MacDonald (4-5) took the loss after Duke lit him up for eight earned runs in 3.1 innings before he was pulled in favor of five different Eagle relievers.

Manno struck out two batters in a scoreless first inning, but did so at the expense of his pitch count which sat at 23 after the first frame. He got leadoff man Robbie Anston looking with a full-count fastball on the outside corner and then got Sanchez to chase a high fastball for strike three. He gave up his first walk in the inning to Matt Hamlet, but then got a flyout from Mickey Wiswall to end the inning.

MacDonald also struggled with a high pitch count in his first inning, due to the fact that Duke's first five batters saw at least five pitches each. Their patient approach allowed the Blue Devils to score twice on a passed ball and a two-out single by Hassan, which was the second of two hits in the inning for Duke. Hassan, who entered the game batting .479 in two-out situations, came to the plate with Williams on second and Freiman and third and watched a passed ball go by that let Williams score and then knocked an RBI single to right-center field on the next pitch.

Following another two-strikeout inning from Manno in the second, Piwnica-Worms ran Duke's lead to 3-0 with a solo homer in the bottom of the second. Piwnica-Worms fouled off two straight pitchers before launching MacDonald's 1-2 offering well over the left field wall for his second long ball of the season.

Boston College's offense would not be held down for long, however, as Sanchez mashed a two-run homer with two outs in the top of the third that cut the deficit to 3-2. Sanchez' bomb flew out to straight-away center field and followed a two-out walk drawn by Hamlet after Manno retired the first two batters he saw. Manno bounced back to strike out Wiswall for the third out, giving the Duke lefty six punchouts through his first three innings of work.

Just as soon as Boston College's catcher lifted the two-run homer in the top of the inning, however, Duke's catcher mashed one of his own in the bottom of the third. Williams' long ball ? his third of the season ? was the first of back-to-back shots from him and Freiman, who reclaimed the three-run lead for the Blue Devils with a towering shot that cleared the light pole in left field. Gould then came to the plate and just missed hitting the third straight homer, flying out to the warning track in left field where Mike Sudol made a leaping grab at the wall. Duke's rally continued with a walk to Hassan and a well-hit single from Lemmerman, but the Eagle defense shut it down quickly with an inning-ending double play.

Manno picked up two more punchouts in the top of the fourth, giving him a season-high matching eight for the game. He got Harry Darling and Sudol to chase two-strike fastballs to end the inning, striking out the seven and eight-hitting duo consecutively for the second straight time. The two strikeouts also left Boston College first baseman Mike Belfiore stranded on third base after he led off the inning with a strikeout.

Williams crushed his second home run in as many at bats in his next turn at the plate in the fourth, sending this one to the same spot over the left field wall to send in three more runs. Williams' long ball came with Piwnica-Worms and Saade on base and gave the senior catcher his first career multi-home run game while also sparking a six-run rally for the Blue Devils. The long ball was the first of four straight hits for Duke, as Freiman, Gould and Hassan each knocked a single off of reliever Dave Laufer, who came into the game after Williams' homer. Laufer then struck out Lemmerman for the second out, but then issued a walk to Tim Sherlock that sent in another run. With the bases still juiced, Laufer got a ground ball from Piwnica-Worms that should have ended the inning, but the ball skipped over Wiswall's glove and into left field to send in two more runs. Matt O'Brien then came into the game to stop the bleeding and got a groundout to first base for the final out.

Now with an 11-2 cushion after the big inning, Manno got through his next two innings quickly, retiring his ninth straight batter in the process. After firing 67 pitches in his first three innings of work, Manno needed just 31 to get through his next three. He picked up one more strikeout in the sixth, giving him a season-high nine for the game.

O'Brien, meanwhile, held Duke scoreless for the first time in the fifth inning, breaking a four-inning scoring streak by the Blue Devils. He gave up a leadoff single to Lemmerman in the top of the seventh when the Duke shortstop crushed a line drive right back to the mound where it hit O'Brien in the stomach and then rolled over to the first base line. O'Brien was shaken after the play and was taken out after walking pinch hitter Will Currier in the next at bat. Taylor Lasko then took the ball with men on first and second and rolled a timely double-play ground ball for the first two outs. Lemmerman moved to third on the double play, but was left stranded there when right fielder Barry Butera made a diving catch on the right field line on a fly ball by McCurdy.

A sacrifice fly from Freiman ran Duke's lead to 12-2 in the bottom of the seventh before Kyle Butler took over on the mound for the Blue Devils in the eighth. Butler came in to face the heart of the Eagle lineup, but picked up right where Manno left off and retired the side in order. He struck out Boston College cleanup hitter Wiswall for the third out by breaking a 1-2 curve ball off on the outside corner of the plate.

Duke will have a chance to lock up the series in game two on Saturday at 2 p.m. Duke will throw right-hander Andrew Wolcott (5-3, 2.48 ERA) opposite Boston College righty John Leonard (1-1, 7.20 ERA) in the mid-series matchup at Jack Coombs Field.

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