Virginia Baseball Defeats Duke 9-5, Sweeps Weekend Series Against Blue Devils
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March 24, 2002
DURHAM, N.C. – The University of Virginia baseball team defeated the DukeBlue Devils by the score of 9-5 in an Atlantic Coast Conference game thisafternoon at Jack Coombs Field. UVa broke open a 3-3 tie after four inningsen route to their four-run victory. The Cavaliers recorded a series sweepover the Blue Devils after posting a 6-4 win on Friday and an 8-3 victory onSaturday in the three-game weekend series.
Virginia took an early 1-0 lead in the top of second inning when Chris Sweettripled off the right field wall before scoring in the Cavaliers’ next at-batwhen Mike Priest grounded out to second base. Virginia extended its lead to3-0 in the top of the third inning when David Stone walked and scored a runwhen Robert Word grounded out to second base before Matt Street walked andscored a run on Mark Reynolds’ RBI-single to center field.
Duke scored its first run of the game in the bottom of the third inning whenJustin Calliham hit a solo home run to right-center field to make the score3-1. Four batters later, Drew Jerden hit a RBI-single to drive in KevinKelly, making it a 3-2 game through three innings of play.
The Blue Devils tied the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth inning whenBryan Patrick hit Duke’s second home run of the game after connecting on asolo shot deep into right field. But the Cavaliers answered right back andtook a 7-3 lead in the top of the fifth inning by scoring four runs,highlighted by a two-run RBI-double by Dan Street that drove in Stone and M.Street after each player walked to reach base.
Duke added a run in the bottom of the seventh inning when Jerden drove AaronKempster in to score a run with a single to left field, cutting UVa’s lead to7-4. But Virginia answered right back again with another run in the top ofthe eighth inning when Kyle Werman doubled down the right field line andscored a run in the Cavaliers’ next at-bat when Stone singled to shortstop togive UVa an 8-4 advantage.
Duke’s Larry Broadway hit the Blue Devils’ third home run of the game, a soloshot to right field in the bottom of the eighth inning, to pull the BlueDevils within three runs of Virginia at 8-5 through eight innings of play.But the Cavaliers answered back yet again, scoring another run when Reynoldssingled and later scored a run on a Blue Devils error.
UVa starting pitch D. Street (2-0) picked up the victory after going sixinnings and allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits with threestrikeouts. Duke’s Paul DeMarco (1-2) picked up the loss after allowing fiveruns (four earned) on three hits through four innings of work.
With the victory, Virginia improves to 15-9 overall, 4-2 in the ACC. Theloss drops Duke’s record to 14-10 overall, 0-3 in the conference.
The Cavaliers will return to action on Wednesday, March 27th when UVa travelsto Richmond, Va. to face the Virginia Commonwealth Rams. The contest isscheduled to begin at 4:00 p.m. and will be played at The Diamond.