The pitching, hitting and defense all came together on Sunday as the baseball team pulled out a dramatic late inning win over West Virginia. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, all three aspects did not click in the other two games of the weekend series, as the team lost both, bringing its overall record to 4-5.
The already depleted pitching staff received more bad news over the weekend, as its top two pitchers were forced out of action. Sophomore Scott Schoeneweis was kept out of action all weekend for precautionary reasons due to the cold weather and lingering tightness in his shoulder from last Tuesday's start.
Junior Craig Starman's injury seemed much more serious, as he was forced to leave Friday's game with possible torn ligaments in his pitching elbow. The team is also still awaiting the arrival of highly touted freshman Rich Dishman, who is out indefinitely with a broken wrist.
"We're having problems with our pitching staff, but it's things we have no control over," said head coach Steve Traylor. "We're gonna need some other pitchers to step forward."
David Darwin and Ryan Jackson did just that following Friday's game, as both stepped up to deliver stellar pitching performances. Both pitched complete games, allowing only three runs each. Darwin lost 3-1 on Saturday, but Jackson picked up the win on Sunday, as the Blue Devils pulled out a 4-3 victory.
"This win is about as good as it gets," said Traylor about Sunday's game. "We had great execution late in the game, we had clutch hits, and Jackson sure pitched a great game."
The Blue Devil offense came alive in the bottom of the eighth on Sunday, as it scored three runs to erase a two-run deficit. Before then, Duke had been limited to two runs in the previous 16 innings. The key hit of the inning was delivered by Luis Duarte, who smacked a one-out double to drive in two runs. The winning run came in when Randy Goodroe, running for Duarte, scored from second base on a wild pitch from Mountaineer reliever Mike Marz.
"Their pitcher came back with the same pitch [as the pitch before] and I just got on it," said Duarte. "I was glad I got it because yesterday it seemed like every time I came to the plate, [the field] looked like one big glove."
Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, the offense was not able to capitalize on Saturday, as the Mountaineers prevailed 3-1. Three West Virginia pitchers and a fierce inward-blowing wind limited the usually potent Blue Devil offense to only three hits. Going into the series, Duke had been averaging averaging 13 hits and nine runs per game.
"Both [starting] pitchers pitched a great game today," said Traylor. "Darwin did exactly what we needed from him since we still need to work on our bullpen. The wind had a tremendous effect on the game. We're usually a team with a lot of power, but today we [would have] needed two hits to get in any base runner."
On Friday there was certainly no lack of offense, as the two teams combined for 20 runs in a 12-8 loss. Duke was within one run during the entire game until the Mountaineers managed to score four times in the top of the ninth inning.
Jackson, playing center field, and Jeff Piscorik led the Blue Devil onslaught. Jackson delivered his second home run of the year, and Piscorik went 1-for-3 with two walks and two runs scored. His hit also allowed two runs to come in when Mountaineer center fielder Kirk Taylor mishandled the ball.
Mark Landers was the most potent Mountaineer, as he went 4-for-5 with a double, a homer, and five RBI. Eric Pavelko went 3-for-6 with two RBI and three runs scored.
But Traylor felt that Sunday's win made up for the two losses.
"What's great about this win is the way that we won. We'll be having games like this all year long -- tough, close, competitive games. This win gives us confidence [for close games later in the year]."
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.