WVU Baseball Downed by Duke Blue Devils 2-1

The WVU Mountaineers (9-5) left eight runners on base before surrendering a 2-1 loss to the Duke Blue Devils (9-7).

The loss in Durham, NC. squashed WVU’s one-game win streak and added another win to Duke’s all-time series record of 8-3.

WVU’s freshman righty Chris Sleeper took the mound and Blue Devil senior righty Cooper Stinson got the start for the home team.

Both teams played quick first innings, but it wasn’t until the bottom of the second that WVU’s starter showed off his skill. A nine-pitch inning from Sleeper sat down the side and welcomed the Mountaineer offense back to the diamond. Unfortunately, Stinson was equally as ready to play. He dealt an 11-pitch inning in much the same fashion, sitting down the top of WVU’s order. The pitching battle continued in the bottom of the third, when Sleeper fought back with an 12-pitch inning of his own, sitting down the top of the Blue Devil lineup.

The match-up’s pace went quickly until it suddenly came to a grinding halt in the fourth, the epicenter of the scoring plays. WVU batters Victor Scott and McGwire Holbrook lead off the inning, and were subsequently downed in a ground-out and strikeout, respectively. In typical WVU form, it was freshman first baseman Grant Hussey who would send his at-bat into right field and over the wall of Durham Bulls Athletic Park. A solo home run would be enough to get the Mountaineers on the board 1-0, but that lead would quickly dwindle.

The Blue Devils put together an inning that built off routine singles into the outfield. Duke junior Graham Pauley singled into left field and fifth-year teammate Trevor Johnson moved Pauley into scoring position with a single of his own, aimed at center field. A double from the six-hitter, sophomore Luke Storm, sent Pauley home to tie the game. Johnson moved to third base, and would score on the next play: a fly-out from fifth-year Chris Crabtree; Johnson scampered home, essentially sealing what would become a 2-1 victory in the fourth inning.

Duke’s offense press wasn’t through, yet the Blue Devils loaded the bases with two outs, and WVU head coach Randy Mazey pulled Sleeper after 3.2 innings pitched, four hits, two runs, 2 Ks, and 71 pitches in favor of fifth-year righty Trey Braithwaite. The Mountaineer fifth-year got his team out of the inning with a three-pitch strikeout.

West Virginia still couldn’t get its bats going in the fifth. The lineup ended the inning with sophomore Braden Barry stranded on second, the second occurrence of the Mountaineer Achilles’ heel, after stranding freshman JJ Wetherholt on third in the first inning.

Braithwaite dealt the Blue Devils a three-up-three-down inning, hoping his teammates would get the ball rolling, but Duke exchanged Stinson with sophomore righty Adam Boucher, who sat the Mountaineer order down in only 10 pitches. The pitching battle ensued. Braithwaite slammed another three-up-three-down inning in the bottom of the sixth, stifling the Duke offense, and the game proceeded with tensions heightened.

The top of the seventh became an instance of what Mountaineers fans have been watching regularly this season: runners left on base, and in scoring position, in crucial moments. Hussey lead off the inning with a walk, and he was moved to third courtesy of a double from redshirt junior Dayne Leonard. With runners on second and third, Duke replaced Boucher with sophomore lefty Josh Allen. It was timing which seemed apropos for the game, but Allen hit redshirt senior Vince Ippoliti and loaded the bases with no outs. Finally it seemed, the Mountaineer mojo had returned. The next three batters proved that incorrect. Barry struck out swinging for the first out. Sophomore Ben Abernathy, pinch hitting for Tevin Tucker, struck out swinging for the second out. Senior Austin Davis, in his fourth plate appearance, flew out to center field. Johnson camped under the ball and closed the Mountaineer scoring hopes. WVU stranded three runners, including the tying run on third. Three outs and a full base path.

Junior righty Jacob Watters came in to close for the Mountaineers and sat the Blue Devils down in 1-2-3 fashion in the bottom of the seventh and eighth innings, but it was the Mountaineer offense which created the deficit. WVU stranded runners on the corners in the top of the eighth, totaling eight runners in the game, and furthermore, six batters in scoring position, split evenly between the two bags.

It’s an area of Mazey and the Mountaineers’ game which WVU fans will be anxious to see cleaned up as this season progresses. They won’t have long to wait; WVU stays in North Carolina for another mid-week game tomorrow against High Point at 4 p.m.

Nevertheless, Duke’s Stinson earned his second win of the season tonight and righty closer Jimmy Loper earned the save. WVU’s Sleeper gained his first loss of the season, now at 2-1.