Diamond Owls Drop First Mid-Week Affair Of Season To Duke, 7-4

March 6, 2007

DURHAM, NC - Duke scored the go-ahead run on a suicide-squeeze in the sixth inning and went on to a 7-4 victory over Temple on Tuesday afternoon at Coombs Field. Temple scored all four of its runs in the second inning but only managed three base-runners from that point on. Freshman Matt Heltz singled and doubled for the Cherry and White.

Duke, which has traditionally struggled in the ultra-competitive ACC, improved to 14-1 on the season. The Blue Devils won just 15 games last season and are currently receiving votes in two major college baseball polls.

The Owls sent 10 batters to the plate in the second and took a 4-1 lead on the hosts. Consecutive RBI singles by sophomores Lenny DelGrippo and Kyle Obal knocked in senior Dan Brady and sophomore Sean Barksdale, who both singled earlier in the frame.

A walk to junior Stan Orzechowski and a sacrifice-fly by junior Ryan Weber made the score 4-1. Unfortunately, the Owls left the bases loaded in the inning and squandered what turned out to be their best chance to score the rest of the contest.

Freshman Rob Chamra, making his first collegiate start, battled on the hill and allowed three earned runs in four innings. He scattered six hits and left with the score knotted at 4-4.

Fellow freshman Matt Blackburn pitched admirably in relief, despite being saddled with the loss (0-1). He fought out of trouble in the fifth with an inning-ending double play and surrendered his only earned run on the suicide squeeze in the sixth. The Blue Devils added a pair of unearned runs in the seventh to account for the final score.

After knocking starter Jeremy Gould out of the game in the second, the TU offense went dormant. Reliever Will Currier (1-0) retired 13 of the first 14 batters he faced before allowing a double to Heltz to start the seventh. He earned the win after throwing 5.1 innings of one-hit, shutout relief. Michael Seander pitched two-shutout innings for his fourth save.

Jonathan Anderson, Nate Freiman and Kyle Butler all had two hits for Duke.

Temple (2-8) travels up Tobacco Road to #1-ranked (Baseball America) North Carolina on Wednesday at 3 PM. The defending national runners-up are 11-1 this season.