Duke Wins Opener Against Wake Forest 3-1

Saturday, March 28

Durham, N.C.

11:00 AM

Duke University

Wake Forest

Duke Baseball Notes: Duke at No. 1 North Carolina (March 20-22)

Duke Wins Opener Against Wake Forest 3-1

3/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? Christopher Manno scattered two hits and one run over 6.1 innings and struck out eight batters to lead Duke to a 3-1 win over Wake Forest Saturday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field.

Manno (2-3) took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before the Demon Deacons (11-11, 1-9 ACC) finally got their first hit of the game. The eight strikeouts were a season high for Manno, who got four called punchouts and struck out the side in order in the third inning.

Manno retired the first 10 batters he faced and walked just two batters before handing the game over to relievers Dennis O'Grady and Alex Hassan, who closed out the win by shutting out Wake Forest over the final three innings. O'Grady scattered two hits over two innings, while Hassan closed the door in the ninth to earn his sixth save of the season. The save was also the 11th of Hassan's career, moving him into a tie for third place on Duke's all-time list alongside David Darwin and Ryan Jackson.

Duke (17-7, 6-4 ACC) staked Manno to a 1-0 lead in the first inning, thanks to an RBI single by Jeremy Gould. Freshmen Eric Pfisterer and Will Piwnica-Worms each followed with an RBI in a two-run fifth inning that featured three Duke hits from Piwnica-Worms, shortstop Jake Lemmerman and second baseman Gabriel Saade. The RBI single in the inning from Piwnica-Worms was his first of two in the game, the other being a leadoff double in the eighth inning. The two knocks extended a streak of four straight games with at least two hits and an RBI for Piwnica-Worms, who raised his batting average to .322 with the performance. Catcher Matt Williams also had two hits and a run, while first baseman Nate Freiman reached base in each of his four plate appearances with a single, two walks and a hit by pitch.

Wake Forest got its lone run on a solo homer by second baseman Dustin Hood in the top of the seventh inning. The Deacs managed just five hits in the game, with designated hitter Weldon Woodall knocking two of them. Starter Brad Kledzik (1-4) took the loss after scattering three runs and eight hits over 5.1 innings before reliever Austin Stadler came in and held Duke to just one hit over the final 2.2 frames.

Following a perfect first inning from Manno, Gould drove in Duke's first run of the game with an RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the first. His base knock sent in Williams from second base after he drew a walk to start the rally and moved over to second on another walk to Freiman. Pfisterer would reach with an infield single later in the inning to load the bases, but Kledzik kept the Blue Devils from keeping the rally alive by picking up his second strikeout to end the inning.

The Blue Devils reloaded the bases the bottom of the second, but once again came away empty-handed to keep their lead at 1-0. Kledzik gave Duke two free passes in the inning by issuing a one-out walk to Ryan McCurdy, giving up a single to Williams and hitting Freiman with a two-out fastball. He got Gould to ground out to second base to end the threat, however, and took the game into the third inning with Duke ahead 1-0.

Manno came out in the top of the third and struck out the side in order for his third, fourth and fifth strikeouts of the game. His first two victims in the inning were caught looking on an inside fastball and a backdoor breaking ball, while he got the final batter to chase a high two-strike fastball. The three strikeouts extended a game-opening streak of nine straight batters retired for Manno, who had yet to allow a Wake Forest hitter to reach base through three complete innings.

Manno finally allowed his first base runner of the game with a one-out walk to two-hitter Shane Kroker, but rolled a double-play ground ball to erase the walk and end the inning with Duke still ahead 1-0. With Kroker on first after the walk, Manno induced a ground ball from three-hitter Dustin Hood, which his third baseman Ryan McCurdy fielded and fired over to second base. Saade received the throw with his foot on the bag and completed the turn, giving the Duke second baseman his team-leading 16th double play of the season. Manno had tossed just 46 pitches through his first four innings for an average of 11.5 per inning. He had no trouble staying in the strike zone during that span, firing 28 of those in for strikes.

Manno struck out two more in the top of the fifth, bringing his total to seven for the game. He retired the side in order once again, giving him four three-up, three-down innings in the game. He had still faced the minimum 15 batters and had yet to allow a hit.

Duke gave Manno two more runs to work with in the bottom of the fifth on a fielder's choice groundout by Pfisterer and a two-out single by Piwnica-Worms that put Duke ahead 3-0. Freiman drew a leadoff walk to start the rally for his third free pass of the game after taking a walk in the first and being hit by a pitch in the second. He would then move up to second on a groundout by Gould, who roped an 0-2 fastball right back at Kledzik. The line drive bounced off Kledzik's leg and ricocheted right toward Wake Forest third baseman Carlos Lopez, who fielded it and threw over to first base for the first out of the inning. Lemmerman then drove a single through the left side to put runners at the corners for Pfisterer, who drove in Freiman with a ground ball to shortstop that he beat out at first base to beat the double play and keep the inning alive. Saade then stepped into the left-handed batter's box and roped a single into left field to move Pfisterer over to second, where he would soon score from after another base knock back up the middle by Piwnica-Worms.

Manno struck out the leadoff batter again in the top of the sixth, giving him five innings that featured a leadoff strikeout. Unfortunately for Manno, the bottom of the Wake Forest lineup broke up his no-hit bid on a one-out single by nine-hitter Tyler Smith. Manno got the better of Smith, however, and picked him off at first base for the second out of the inning. Micah Jarrett, who drew a one-out walk just before Smith's single, advanced to third on the pickoff, but got no further as Manno forced leadoff man Steven Brooks to fly out to shallow left-center field for the final out of the inning.

While Manno kept his pitch count at 81 through the first five innings, Kledzik ran his to 104 after facing three batters in the sixth and was pulled after giving up consecutive one-out hits to Williams and Freiman. The Deacs went to the left-handed Stadler, who helped get Wake Forest out of the inning without giving up a run. Stadler coaxed a ground ball from Gould, which his defense converted into a fielder's choice at second base just before catcher Mike Murray caught Gould stealing second for the third out.

Manno stayed on in the seventh and got the first out, but gave up a solo home run to Hood that cut Duke's lead to 3-1 and ended his best outing of the season. Manno gave way to O'Grady, who came in to face the three-hitter Lopez with one out on the board. Lopez got ahead 3-1 in the count and smoked a ground ball to the left side, but McCurdy was there to make a diving stop to his glove side and get Lopez at first base for the second out. Woodall then followed with a base hit up the middle, but O'Grady got out of the inning with a ground ball that Saade fielded and flipped to second base for the third out.

O'Grady kept the Wake Forest lineup in check again in his next inning to take Duke's 3-1 lead into the bottom half of the eighth inning. He gave up a bloop single to right fielder Evan Ocheltree to lead off the inning, but forced three straight fly balls to end the inning.

Duke opened the bottom of the eighth in a good position to score another run, but could not take advantage of a leadoff double or a Wake Forest fielding error. Piwnica-Worms opened the frame with a double down the left field line, but got picked off at second base from behind the plate by Murray. Piwnica-Worms slipped in the muddy clay while trying to get back to second base and was forced to try and advance to third, where he was soon tagged out in a quick rundown. McCurdy then reached on a fielding error by Kroker, but quickly became the first out of an inning-ending double play.

With a slim two-run lead to protect, Duke went to Hassan to get the final three outs against the middle of Wake Forest's lineup. Hassan, who converted both save opportunities in the series win against No. 1 North Carolina last weekend, opened by getting two quick outs, but hit Lopez with a two-strike breaking ball to give the Demon Deacons their first base runner of the inning. He then coaxed a ground ball back to the mound out of Woodall that would have ended the game, but Hassan slipped in the wet grass when trying to throw to first and allowed Woodall to reach safely for an infield single. Now with the go-ahead run at the plate and the tying run on first base, Hassan had to face Murray, who entered the game hitting .314 against ACC pitching. Hassan opened the at bat by missing outside with a fastball but came back with two strikes that Murray fouled off. Ahead 1-2 in the count, Hassan dropped a big breaking ball into the strike zone for his second called strikeout of the inning, locking up the win and his sixth save of the season in the process.

Duke and Wake Forest will complete the three-game series with a double header on Sunday, March 29. The twinbill will start at 1 p.m. with Duke right-hander Andrew Wolcott (4-0, 1.27 ERA) on the mound for Duke opposite Wake Forest right-hander Phil Negus (1-2, 7.06 ERA). Duke sophomore Ryan Knott (2-0, 4.91 ERA) will throw in game three.

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