The Mount St. Mary's baseball team lost both games of a
season-opening doubleheader at Duke on Saturday afternoon. The
Blue Devils (2-0) rallied from an early 7-2 deficit to take the
opening game, 13-10, before earning an 8-2 win in the nightcap.
The Mount used a six-run second to jump to a 7-2 lead in the
opening game. Drew Counselman doubled home Joe Hayes to start the
rally. Matt Eiden followed with an RBI sigle and Mike Gioiso's
bunt single plated Matt Trusch to give the Mount a 4-2 advantage.
Ivor Hodgson added an RBI single before Stephan Fay walked and
Counselman was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to complete the
scoring in the inning.
Duke added three runs in the bottom of the sixth and added six
runs in the fourth to take a an 11-7 lead. The Mount answered with
three in the fifth, capped by an Eric Smith two-run single that cut
the Duke lead to 11-10. the Moun thad a chance to tie in teh
seventh when Hodgson doubled, but he was thrown out at home on Josh
Vittek's single. duke added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom
of the seventh to seal the win.
Hodgson went 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored while Smith was
3-for-5 with three RBI to pace the Mount offense in the game.
Conselman added two hits and two RBI in his first game in a Mount
uniform. Ryan McCurdy led an 18-hit Duke attack with four hits and
three runs scored in the opening game while Jimmy Gallagher went
3-for-4 with two doubles and a triple in the win.
In the second game, Tony Bajoczky and Micheael Seander combined
for a three-hitter in Duke's 8-2 victory. Fay was 2-for-4 and
Smith was 1-for-3 for the only Mount hits in the game.
Duke scored a pair of runs in the third and fourth innings to
grab a 4-0 lead. McCurdy hit a sacrifice fly and Nate Freiman
added a run-producing single in the third before Jonathan Nicolla
recorded an RBI double and Gabriel Saade an RBI single in the
fourth. The Mount answered with two unearned runs in the fifth,
but Duke scored three times in the bottom of the inning en route to
the win.
Smith, who missed all but four games last year with a shoulder
injury, was 4-for-8 in the doubleheader. Gallagher was 5-for-9 to
pace Duke in the twinbill.
The teams complete the three-game series with a nine-inning game
at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow.
