CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Duke has made some giant strides on the baseball diamond this season, winning games against Florida State and Virginia, two of best teams in the nation. The Blue Devils were unable to end their season on a high note, however, losing all three games to a surging Miami team last weekend at Mark Light Stadium.
The Hurricanes (35-20, 17-13 in the ACC) came into the series on a tear, having won seven of their last eight games. Conversely, Duke (29-25, 8-22) entered the three-game set having lost five of its last eight contests.
"I thought their pitchers, especially the first two days, just did a good job of coming at us, being aggressive and keeping us off balance," head coach Sean McNally said. "I knew we would come out ready to play, but we just couldn't get our bats going."
Saturday's game summed up the series, showcasing some of the problems that have doomed the Blue Devils in conference play. Behind smart hitting from shortstop Gabriel Saade and right fielder Jonathan Anderson, Duke managed to drive home four runs in the top of the first inning. Pitcher Alexander Hassan kept the Hurricanes' bats silent for the first two innings, but then Miami blew the game wide open in the third.
The Hurricanes scored an astounding nine runs, chasing Hassan out of the game. Miami's success was keyed by two of its best players, Roger Tomas and Yonder Alonzo, who each batted twice in the inning. Trailing 4-1 near the beginning of the frame, Alonzo was able to turn on a pitch and hit a three-run homer over the right field wall to tie the score. When the Blue Devils finally collected the third out of the inning, Miami had amassed a 10-4 lead that it never relinquished, winning 14-5.
"I wasn't surprised we came out and put four runs up," McNally said. "But Miami has a talented group of hitters and even with two outs, they kept putting together quality at-bats."
Even second-team all-ACC selection Tony Bajoczky, whose 9-3 record and 3.22 ERA led the team, could not pitch them past Miami in a 5-1 loss Friday, like he had done for the Blue Devils against so many other top teams throughout the ACC slate.
Duke's defense held the Hurricanes to just one run in each of the first three innings, but the team could not generate any offense against first-team all-ACC ace Eric Erickson. He lasted seven and two-thirds innings while surrendering just one run on seven hits.
"He just did a great job of mixing his pitches and hitting his spots," McNally said.
Despite the difficult ending to the season, McNally and the rest of the staff engineered a 14-win improvement over last season and expect continued success next year.
"I'm very proud of what we did in 2007 and excited about the future," McNally said. "Our goal was to be better in all phases of the game, and we did that across the board this year."
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