April 23, 2003

The UNC Wilmington Seahawks defeated the Duke Blue Devils, 4-3, Wednesday night at Jack Coombs Field. Senior right fielder Brian Patrick recorded three hits to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 17 games, but four Seahawks relief pitchers combined to pitch 6.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen and hold off the Blue Devils.

Duke took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Freshman left fielder Javier Socorro singled to lead off and advanced to third on a one-out double by Patrick. Socorro scored on a groundout by sophomore first baseman Tim Layden.

UNC Wilmington responded with two runs in the top of the second. With two outs, Jon Davis was hit by a pitch. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Brad Denson. Pat Murphy gave the Seahawks a 2-1 lead when he walked and scored on a single by Chip Grawey.

UNCW added a run in the third inning. Jamie Hemingway reached on an error and scored on a single by Aaron Smith. The Seahawks had the bases loaded with no one out, but were unable to get another run as freshman right-hander Jim Perry pitched out of the jam with a strikeout and two ground balls.

Duke evened the game at 3-3 with two runs in the third inning. With one out, Patrick singled to left field. After a double to right-center by Layden, Patrick scored on a sacrifice fly by senior catcher Troy Caradonna. Sophomore Grant Stanley's second base hit of the day knocked in Layden with the tying run.

UNC Wilmington took a 4-3 lead in the sixth inning. Denson led off the inning with a single, advanced to third on a single by Grawey and scored on a one-out single by Hemingway.

With a 3-for-4 day, Patrick paced the Blue Devils and extended his streak of games with two or more hits to eight contests. Stanley and Socorro also tallied two hits apiece for the Blue Devils. Grawey led the Seahawks with three hits.

Perry allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits and two walks in 4.1 innings in his first career start. Junior Justin DiLucchio (1-3) took the loss, giving up one run on three hits in 1.2 innings pitched. Chris Coughlin (6-3) earned the win for UNCW, pitching 3.0 scorelesss innings of relief. Blake Cross pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 10th save of the year.

Duke, which played its 12th one-run game of the year, fell to 14-26 overall and hosts Maryland for a three-game series beginning Friday. UNCW improved to 30-15 on the year.