Duke Takes Down No. 11 Virginia 11-4 In Series Opener

Friday, May 8

Charlottesville, Va.

7:00 PM

Duke University

Virginia

Duke Takes Down No. 11 Virginia 11-4 In Series Opener

5/8/2009 11:15:00 PM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. ? Jake Lemmerman and Nate Freiman both homered and combined for seven RBI to lead Duke to a series-opening 11-4 win over No. 11 Virginia Friday evening at Davenport Field.

Lemmerman hammered his second grand slam of the season and drove in a career-high five runs to help Duke (32-18, 13-12 ACC) improve to 5-5 against top-25 teams on the year, while Freiman mashed a two-run shot to opposite field in his first at bat of the day.

Freiman's homer gave Duke starter Christopher Manno (5-4) all the run support he needed before he embarked on his six-inning, eight-strikeout performance. Manno gave up his only run on a homer to Virginia third baseman Steven Proscia, which was one of six hits the Cavaliers managed off of Manno. The junior southpaw fired 94 pitches in the start and extended a run of six consecutive ACC starts of at least six innings. Manno is 4-1 during that span with a 2.35 ERA.

Manno outdueled Virginia freshman Danny Hultzen (6-1), who entered the game as the ACC leader in ERA and strikeouts per game, but left with his first career loss. Hultzen, who averaged 11.51 strikeouts per nine innings before the loss, struck out just one Blue Devil in his 5.1 innings of work. Duke touched Hultzen up for six runs ? two earned ? on six hits, including Freiman's homer.

Duke also got a pair of two-hit performances from freshman Will Piwnica-Worms and junior Alex Hassan, who drove in one run apiece, and another RBI from second baseman Gabriel Saade on a sacrifice fly. After managing just three extra-base hits in their previous three games, the Blue Devils knocked out four in the opener against Virginia. Two of those came from Lemmerman, who also doubled, while the other two came on Freiman's home run and Matt Williams' double. All nine Duke starters scored a run with Williams and Piwnica-Worms each scoring twice.

Virginia got two of its four runs on solo homers from Proscia and Matt Hicks and the other two on a two-out single from cleanup hitter Dan Grovatt. The Cavaliers (35-10-1, 13-9-1 ACC) knocked out 11 hits, but stranded nine base runners.

Freiman launched his ACC-leading 16th home run in the top of the first to give Duke a 2-0 lead before Manno ever took the mound. With classmate Williams on first base after reaching on a Cavalier throwing error, Freiman took the second pitch he saw and deposited it over the right field fence for his 39th career home run.

Manno, meanwhile, gave up doubles in the first and second innings, but worked around them to keep Duke ahead 2-0. He fanned two batters during that span and used just 24 pitches.

Duke tagged two more hits off of Hultzen in the top of the third, but came away empty-handed despite a two-out double from Williams. With two outs after a double play, Williams fell behind 1-2 in the count against Hultzen, but then fouled four pitches, including three straight, to work the count full. The senior catcher then ripped the 10th pitch of the at bat into the right field gap for his 11th double of the season. Hultzen would spoil the scoring opportunity for Duke, however, by getting Freiman to pop out to first base for the final out of the inning.

Manno battled control issues in the top of the third and put the first three batters on base by hitting one and walking two, but got out of the jam unharmed thanks to a pair of run-saving defensive plays. With the bases loaded and the middle of Virginia's lineup coming to the plate, three-hitter Phil Gosselin lifted a fly ball to shallow right field. Hassan ran down the fly and made the catch and then came up firing to the plate to keep all three runners at bay. With the bases still loaded, Manno got Grovatt to hit a ground ball to Lemmerman, who fielded it and flipped it to Saade to begin an inning-ending double play. The turn ended the inning with two men on base and was the 47th double play of the year for Duke.

Virginia would get on the board in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to a leadoff home run from Proscia that cut the deficit to 2-1. Manno got even against the next three hitters, however, striking out three in a row to end the inning. Through four complete innings, Manno fanned five Cavaliers, while Hultzen had struck out just one Blue Devil.

Duke took that run back in the top of the fifth on an RBI double by Lemmerman. The Blue Devils took advantage of a leadoff hit batter and put left fielder Joe Pedevillano, who took the pitch off his arm, on second base with a sacrifice bunt by Ryan McCurdy. With Pedevillano on second, Lemmerman crushed a line drive to the left field gap that rolled between the Cavalier outfielders and allowed Pedevillano to score and regain a two-run lead for Duke.

Manno struck out his fourth straight batter to lead off the fifth inning, but gave up three hard-hit line drives to the next three Cavaliers he faced. Fortunately for Duke, Lemmerman and second baseman Gabriel Saade were there to glove two of them to minimize the damage. Lemmerman caught the first that was hit right at him by Jarrett Parker, while Saade had to dive for the second one that was hit just to the right of second base. Just before Gosselin ripped the pitch back up the middle, Saade shaded toward second base and dove to his right side to come up with the ball for the third out.

Duke went ahead 6-1 in the top of the sixth after two costly Virginia errors led to three unearned Duke runs. The second error did the most damage when the right fielder Grovatt dropped a two-out fly ball that should have ended the inning, but instead let Hassan and Piwnica-Worms cross the plate from first and second base, respectively. Duke had just one hit in the inning ? a single from Hassan ? along with a sacrifice fly from Saade. Hultzen was relieved of his pitching duties with one out and the bases loaded in the inning, but the Cavaliers would have to use two more pitchers to get out of the inning.

Virginia strung together consecutive singles from Proscia and John Hicks in the bottom of the sixth, but could not get either runner across the plate. Even after a botched rundown on a pickoff allowed Proscia to reach third base with one out, Virginia struggled to make solid contact against Manno, who got Hultzen to pop up for the second out and then fanned Franco Valdes to end the threat. The punchout against Valdes was the eighth of the game for Manno, who had thrown 95 pitches on the way to his sixth straight ACC start of at least 6.0 innings.

A two-out RBI single by Hassan gave Duke a run for the third straight inning and put the Blue Devils on top 7-1. Hassan's base knock was the third of the inning for Duke, which also got singles from Williams and Gould.

Duke swapped out reliever Michael Ness for Manno to start the bottom of the seventh inning, and pinch hitter David Coleman and Parker welcomed him to the game with consecutive singles. Ness followed by retiring the next two batters, but could not get past Grovatt who slapped a two-out single through the right side to score both Virginia base runners and cut Duke's lead to 7-3.

The top of the eighth inning featured a grand slam by Lemmerman that put Duke on top 11-3 just before the game was suspended due to an incoming thunderstorm. With the bases juiced after a single from Piwnica-Worms, a walk to Saade and an intentional walk to McCurdy, Lemmerman battled into a 2-2 count before he hammered a deep fly ball well over the left field wall. The grand slam was the second of the season for Lemmerman, who has homered four times in Duke's last 10 games.

Shortly after Lemmerman's home run, the game was suspended at 9:49 p.m. with two outs and no count on the board against Freiman. After a 31-minute delay, the game resumed with Freiman grounding out to end the top of the eighth inning.

Hicks led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run for Virginia that cut Duke's lead to 11-4. The long ball came off of senior Kyle Butler, who entered the game after the delay. Butler quickly shook off the long ball, however, and retired three of the next four batters to take the game into the ninth inning.

Butler worked through the ninth inning without any issues, inducing two ground balls and a lineout to end the game. All three outs went through Saade, who chalked up four assists in the game.

With a one-game lead in favor of the Blue Devils, Duke and Virginia will continue the series on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Davenport Field. The game, which was originally scheduled for 7 p.m., was moved up to avoid the threat of rain later in the evening. Duke will send right-hander Andrew Wolcott (6-3, 2.42 ERA) to the mound opposite Virginia right-hander Andrew Carraway (5-0, 3.39 ERA).

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