March 7, 1999

ELON, N.C. - Duke junior Ed Conreys (Levittown, Pa.) inside-the-park home run to lead off the seventh inning proved to be the difference as the Blue Devils defeated Elon on Sunday at Jack Coombs Stadium. The Blue Devils improve to 10-8, while the Fighting Christians fall to 5-11-1.

Conrey posted the rare inside-the-park homer with a shot to left field that rolled to the fence past Elons Garth Lanning, who had trouble locating the ball, allowing Conrey to circle the bases for the score. The Blue Devils opened the scoring in the second on a two-RBI single by sophomore Ryan Caradonna (Tampa, Fla.).

The Fighting Christians posted a ninth-inning rally by scoring two runs on RBI singles by Whit Bryant and Jim Swenson.

Senior hurler Stephen Cowie (Belmont, N.C.) improves to 5-1 on the season with the win. In the complete game victory, Cowie, who had a perfect game going until allowing a lead-off hit in the seventh inning, struck out 15 without a walk issued. The loss went to Elon starter Nathan Holcombe, who falls to 0-3 on the year.

Duke returns to action on Wednesday when it hosts Ball State at 3 pm.

       R H E
ELON   2 7 2
DUKE   3 5 0

WP - Stephen Cowie (DU) - 5-1
LP - Nathan Holcomb (EC) - 0-3

HR - Conrey (DU)
E - Schaefer (EC) - 2