Hokie ClubBLACKSBURG, Va. - The Duke Blue Devils took advantage of two of Virginia Tech pitcher Rhett Ballard's NCAA record-tying seven hit batsmen to score twice in the ninth inning for a 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference victory at English Field on Thursday.
After the Hokies scored a run in the bottom of the eighth inning to knot the score, Ballard hit the first two Duke batters he faced in the top of the ninth. Third baseman Ryan McCurdy, who had been hit by pitches twice earlier in the game, led off the inning. He was followed by relief pitcher Alex Hassan, who began the game in center field before moving to the mound to record the last out in the Tech eighth. With McCurdy and Hassan on base, Duke first baseman Nate Freiman flyed out to deep center, moving McCurdy to third. From there, he scored on Ballard's fourth wild pitch of the contest. Hassan moved to second on the play and scored on a single by catcher Matt Williams.
Hassan returned to the mound and retired the Hokies in order during the bottom of the inning to pick up his fifth win without a loss. Ballard, who fell to 3-8 on the season, pitched 8.1 innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits. He stuck out seven and walked three. His seven hit batters equaled the NCAA mark set by North Carolina's Andrew Miller against Virginia on April 1, 2005.
With the victory, the Blue Devils improved to 36-17-1 overall and 9-17-1 in the ACC. Tech is 22-31 on the season with a 5-23 ACC mark.
Duke starting pitcher Andrew Wolcott and Ballard (High Point, N.C.) both worked three scoreless innings to open the game. Wolcott struck out a Tech batter with a runner at second to end the first inning and fanned another Hokie with a man at third to close out the third frame. Ballard also got out of the first on a strikeout with a runner at second and then struck out the last two batters in the third with a man at second.
The Blue Devils broke the scoreless tie in the top of the fourth inning without the benefit of a hit. After Ballard retired the first two batters of the inning, Duke left fielder Jeremy Gould hit a come-backer to the mound. Ballard knocked the ball down and recovered it, but then tossed it high and wide of first baseman Sean O'Brien (Chappaqua, N.Y.), resulting in a three-base error. Gould completed his circuit by scoring on a wild pitch.
The teams exchanged single runs in the bottom of the fourth and top of the fifth as the Blue Devils maintained their one-run advantage. Tech got on the board when third baseman Michael Seaborn (Atlanta, Ga.) reached on a fielder's choice, moved to third on a single by designated hitter Matt Blow (Richmond, Va.) and scored on right fielder Klint Reed's single. A single by Duke designated hitter Jonathan Nicolla scored Hassan as the visitors regained the lead in the fifth. Hassan singled with two outs and took second on a Hokie throwing error before scoring the go-ahead run.
After stranding runners in scoring position in three straight innings, the Hokies finally managed to tie the game in the eighth. Left fielder Jose Cueto (Miami, Fla.) reached on a two-out single and was replaced by pinch-runner Steve Bumbry (Cockeysville, Md.). Reed (Chesterfield, Va.) then laced a double down the right field line and Bumbry motored all the way around from first to even the score at 2-2.
Tech finished the game with nine hits, including two apiece by Reed, Blow and Cueto. The Blue Devils got one hit from seven different players.
Tech and Duke are scheduled to play game two of the series at 5:30 p.m., on Friday before closing out the regular season on Saturday afternoon at 1.