Duke Clinches Series Over No. 7 Georgia Tech With 5-3 Win

Saturday, May 16

Durham, N.C.

1:00 PM

Duke University

Georgia Tech

Duke Clinches Series Over No. 7 Georgia Tech With 5-3 Win

5/16/2009 4:45:00 PM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. ? Jake Lemmerman hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the seventh inning to lead Duke to a 5-3, series-clinching win over No. 7 Georgia Tech Saturday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field.

Lemmerman's two-out, two-run bomb staked reliever Dennis O'Grady to a two-run lead that he and junior Michael Ness preserved by getting the final six outs. Ness entered the game with two outs and two men on base in the top of the ninth to face Yellow Jacket three-hitter Luke Murton, who had tied the game with a two-run homer in the seventh inning. Facing Ness, Murton hit a deep fly ball to the right field gap that Blue Devil freshman center fielder Will Piwnica-Worms ran down and caught on the warning track for the final out just before he crashed into the wall.

O'Grady (2-2), Ness and starter Eric Pfisterer combined to hold the Yellow Jackets (34-15-1, 17-10-1 ACC) to three runs on seven hits in the win. Pfisterer tossed the first 5.1 innings of the game and surrendered just one run and two hits, while O'Grady took over for the next 3.1 innings. O'Grady gave up Murton's two-out homer in the seventh, but did not surrender another run to preserve the 5-3 win after Lemmerman's homer. Ness, meanwhile, used just one pitch to lock up his third save of the year.

Duke (34-22, 15-15 ACC) outhit Georgia Tech 10-7 and got one RBI apiece from senior catcher Matt Williams and junior second baseman Gabriel Saade. The Blue Devils tagged starter Jed Bradley for three runs in three innings before Lemmerman ripped his two-run bomb off of reliever Kevin Jacob (5-3), who took the loss.

The win was the 15th ACC victory of the season for Duke and improved the Blue Devils' record against top-25 opponents to 7-8. It was also the second series win over a top-10 opponent for Duke, which also took two of three from No.1 North Carolina earlier in the year. With a 15-15 ACC record to close out the regular season, the 2009 Blue Devil baseball team finished with the second-most ACC wins in school history.

Georgia Tech jumped on the board in the top of the second inning on a first-pitch home run by six-hitter Matt Skole. Skole pulled the first offering he saw from Pfisterer over the scoreboard in right field to give the Yellow Jackets a 1-0 lead. Pfisterer quickly rebounded after giving up the home run though, and retired the next three hitters he faced, one of which was his first strikeout victim of the game.

Bradley, meanwhile, did not give up a hit until Duke pounded consecutive two-out knocks off of him to tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the third. Leadoff batter Alex Hassan started the rally with a two-out single through the left side and then came all the way around from first to score on a double by Williams. Williams just missed a two-run homer when his deep fly hit one foot below the top of the right-center field wall. The double 12th two-bagger of the season for Williams and sent in his career-high 46th RBI of the season two days after being named a semifinalist for the Johnny Bench Award.

Skole's solo home run turned out to be the only blemish on Pfisterer's first four innings of work. The freshman southpaw cruised through the third and fourth innings, retiring six of the seven hitters he faced. He issued just one walk during that span ? a leadoff pass to Jeff Rowland in the third inning ? while surrendering only two hits to that point in the game.

Duke's offense began to heat up along with Pfisterer in the fourth and scored twice to stake a 3-1 lead. Duke loaded the bases with no outs against Bradley before the Yellow Jackets called on the right-handed Patrick Long to get out of the jam. Duke countered by pinch-hitting the lefty-swinging Tim Sherlock, who grounded into a double play, but sent in a run in the process. With two outs and a man on third, Duke squeaked one more run out of the inning on an RBI single from Saade.

Pfisterer opened the top of the fifth by striking out Evan Martin for his seventh consecutive retired batter, but got himself into a jam after issuing two walks. Pfisterer worked out of it, however, and struck out three-hitter Luke Murton to strand both runners. The strikeout was the third of the inning and the fifth of the game for Pfisterer, who got ahead 0-2 against Murton and then broke a big breaking ball back across the inside half of the plate for a called strike three against Georgia Tech's biggest offensive threat.

Pfisterer stayed in to get the first out of the sixth inning before Duke called on O'Grady to pick up the last two. O'Grady got into a jam after a walk to Haniger, a single to Dietrich and a wild pitch put two Yellow Jackets in scoring position with two outs. O'Grady got himself out, however, by getting pinch hitter Thomas Nichols to swing through a two-strike offering for a crucial strike three.

Duke was on the verge of starting another rally in the sixth, but the Yellow Jackets brought in Kevin Jacob to get out of the jam, which he did by retiring two straight. Jacob struck out McCurdy for the second out and then got Hassan to ground out to second base to strand Sherlock, who singled, and Saade, who drew a walk against reliever Mark Pope.

Duke's two-run lead evaporated on one swing of the bat in the top of the seventh when Murton hit a two-out, two-run homer that tied the game at 3-3. Murton's two-run bomb over the left-center field wall was the second straight two-out hit that the Yellow Jackets managed off of O'Grady in the inning with the first coming from Chris House, who singled back up the middle. O'Grady got ahead 1-2 against Murton, but then has a two-strike breaking ball crushed over the wall for Murton's team-leading 17th home run of the year.

Lemmerman matched Murton's game-tying bomb with a two-out, two-run homer of his own in the bottom of the seventh to put Duke back on top 5-3. After Williams drew a leadoff walk, Lemmerman came to the plate with two outs and the tying run on first base. He jumped on the first pitch he saw ? a fastball on the outside part of the plate ? and took it to right field where it cleared the 375-foot sign in the power alley. The bomb was Lemmerman's sixth homer of the season and his fifth homer since April 18, all of which have been against ACC teams.

O'Grady came back out in the eighth and sat down all three batters he faced to preserve the two-run lead. He got some help from his defense when first baseman Nate Freiman robbed Skole of a potential one-out single with a diving catch in the back of the infield. Skole ripped a hard-hit ground ball to the hole, but Freiman took two steps and dove to his right and back toward the outfield grass to snag the ball. He then popped up and fired to O'Grady, who caught the ball in stride and touched the bag.

In line for the win, O'Grady stayed on for the final inning and retired Georgia Tech's eight and nine hitters, but then gave up consecutive singles to Rowland and House. With two men on and two outs, Duke then called on Ness to face Murton, who hit a game-tying, two-run homer in his previous at bat. Murton came out swinging and sent the first pitch he saw into the right field gap, but Piwnica-Worms was there to make the game-ending catch on the warning track just before he crashed into the outfield wall.

With a bid to the ACC Tournament locked up, Duke will head to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park down the road in Durham, N.C. The Blue Devils are awaiting their seeding announcement, which will come out on Sunday.

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