The Duke baseball team salvaged the finale at Georgia Tech today, with a 4-3 victory. The offense came to life a little and the Blue Devils received solid relief pitching.

It was a back-and-forth affair and it seemed like every time one team scored, the other had a rebuttal. GT scored a run in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI ground out. They had the bases loaded with two outs, but couldn’t blow the game open. Duke came right back in the top of the 2nd inning with an unearned run scoring on David Perkins‘ sacrifice fly.

Both teams scored single runs in the 4th inning. Duke scored a run on a bases loaded walk with two outs, but couldn’t push any more runs across. The Blue Devils took the lead in the 5th inning on a Mike Rosenfeld sac fly.

GT tied the game in the bottom of the 6th inning on a Brandon Thomas RBI single. Duke came right back to retake the lead in the top of the 7th inning on a Mark Lumpa RBI single.

GT had a chance to tie the game in the bottom of the 9th inning, as Thomas doubled to lead off the inning. He went to third base on a ground out. After a Duke pitching change (with David Putnam coming on for the third time in two days), Jake Davis lifted a fly ball to left field that was caught by the new left fielder Anthony D’Alessandro. He then threw to the plate to nab Thomas trying to tag and tie the game. That play ended the game.

Robert Huber started for Duke and pitched good, but not great. He allowed two runs on five hits and three walks over four innings. Andrew Istler came on in relief and allowed just one run on six hits (and no walks) over 4.1 innings. He picked up the win (despite blowing a save).

For Duke, Lumpa went 3-for-3 with a run scored, an RBI, and a walk.

The same guys in the Yellow Jackets offense had good games today just like they did yesterday. Kyle Wren went 2-for-5 with an RBI and Brandon Thomas followed him in the order and went 3-for-5. Thomas Smith went 2-for-3.

Duke improved to 5-7 in the ACC, while GT dropped to 6-6.

The Duke baseball team had a chance today to really put themselves in a good position in the ACC standings. Instead, they lost both games of their doubleheader at Georgia Tech and dropped to 4-7 in the conference.

Duke's Marcus Stroman via Marc Kirsch

The Blue Devils lost Game 1 in a heartbreaker, as ace Marcus Stroman pitched like an ace. Problem was, Buck Farmer for GT was just a bit better.

Stroman allowed a leadoff single to Kyle Wren, but then retired 16 in a row before the 6th inning. In the 8th inning, he allowed a single to Thomas Smith with one out and he came around to score on Brandon Thomas‘ RBI double. Duke lost 1-0.

Stroman struck out 12 over 7.2 innings, but allowed that one run on six hits (only three GT players had hits). He also did not issue a walk. Farmer pitched a complete game shutout. He allowed just three hits and no walks, while striking out 11.

Game 2 was close early, as the Yellow Jackets only led 1-0 heading into the bottom of the 6th. GT’s offense broke out with two runs in the 6th inning and five more runs in the bottom of the 7th inning. Duke lost 8-0.

Duke again had ZERO offense. They collected just two total hits in the game (one by Jeff Kremer and one by Andy Perez).

Luke Bard started for the Yellow Jackets and allowed the two hits over 4.1 innings. He also walked three. The impressive outing came after Bard left. Alex Cruz pitched 4.2 hitless innings. He did not walk a batter while striking out four. Cruz picked up his first career victory as he pitched the longest of his career.

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