Maryland
Duke
Duke Explodes For Nine Runs In The Fourth To Down Baseball Team, 11-7
3/30/2001 7:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 30, 2001
DURHAM, N.C.- Maryland CF Matt Swope (New Carrollton, Md.) tied a career-high with four hits but it was not enough as the Duke Blue Devils topped the Terrapins, 11-7, Friday night in college baseball action at Jack Combs Field. Duke pitcher Jeff Alleva tossed 4.1 shutout innings in relief as the Blue Devils rallied from a 5-0 deficit to pick up their third conference win of the year.
The Terrapins got on the board with two swings in the first inning. After Swope drilled a double to leftfield, freshman 1B Anthony Buffone (Manalapan, N.J.) followed with a single to center, scoring Swope, to give Maryland a 1-0 lead.
Maryland added four runs on four hits in the fourth to knock out Duke starter RHP Greg Burke. The Terrapins sent nine batters to the plate in the inning and scored all four runs with two outs. Freshman LF Eric D'Alessandro (Middletown, N.J.) got the scoring going with a RBI single, scoring senior 3B Steve Oursler (Clinton, Md.). Two RBI singles from Swope and Buffone kept the inning alive, scoring another two runs, to put the Terps ahead 4-0. Senior DH Brian Patenaude (Marietta, Ga.) delivered the final run of the inning with a RBI double to left, scoring Swope, to make the score 5-0.
The Blue Devils exploded for nine unearned runs in the fourth inning to take a 9-5 lead. Maryland RHP Jared Stuart (Corning, N.Y.) was sailing along through the game's first 3.2 innings, limiting Duke to three hits, when the floodgates opened. The inning looked to be over when Duke SS Kevin Kelly grounded to first base, but the throw pulled Stuart off the bag, keeping the Duke inning alive and scoring the Blue Devils' first run. From that point on, Duke's bats came alive, nailing five hits to take the lead for the first time in the game. The wacky inning saw 14 Duke batters come to the plate and all nine runs came with two outs.
Duke tacked on another unearned run in the sixth inning to pad its lead to 10-5. In the seventh, Blue Devil 3B J.D. Alleva slammed his third homerun of the year to right, to make the score 11-5. Alleva finished the night 2-for-4 with four runs driven in.
The Terrapins scored two runs in the ninth and brought the tying run to the plate, but Swope flied out to deep center to end the game.
Jeff Alleva nailed down his second with of the year for Duke and is now 2-1. For the Terps, Stuart was tagged with the loss and is 1-4 on the season.
With the win, Duke improved to 14-18 overall and 3-4 in the ACC. The Terps drop to 6-17 on the year and 0-7 in the conference.
Both teams will return to the field for the ACC Game of the Week tomorrow starting at 1 p.m. Catch all the action live on Home Team Sports, Fox Sports South or the Sunshine Network.
