May 20, 2003

The Duke Blue Devils opened the 2003 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament with a 5-3 win over the Maryland Terrapins Tuesday evening at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium in Salem, Va.

Senior right hander Jeff Alleva pitched the second complete game of his career, allowing three earned runs and striking out five, to lead the Blue Devils to victory. Freshman left fielder Javier Socorro went 3-for-5 and freshman third baseman John Berger went 2-for-4 with three RBIs to lead the Blue Devil offense.

"That's a great win for us," said Duke head coach Bill Hillier. "We're in the tournament now. Jeff Alleva pitched an awesome game and gave us this opportunity. Hopefully we can take advantage of the opportunity and create some havoc."

The Blue Devils used a two-out rally to take a 4-0 lead in the third inning. With two outs senior right fielder Brian Patrick singled through the right side. After sophomore first baseman Tim Layden drew a walk, senior catcher Troy Caradonna knocked in Patrick with a single to left and both Layden and Caradonna advanced on an error. A single to center by Berger plated Layden and Caradonna to give Duke a 3-0 lead. Freshman designated hitter Brian Hernandez notched Duke's fourth two-out single of the inning to score Berger and increase the Blue Devil lead to 4-0.

Duke added a run in the fifth inning when Layden walked, stole second and scored on single by Berger.

Maryland got on the board with a run in the seventh inning. Justin Maxwell led off with a single. With one out, Jason Maxey hit his first triple of the year to plate Maxwell and make it a 5-1 game.

Will Frazier's fifth home run of the season, a two-run shot in the ninth inning, capped the scoring for the Terrapins.

Alleva (4-7) picked up the win while Steve Schmoll (4-5) took the loss.

Duke (17-34) will face top-seed Florida State (47-8-1) on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. Maryland ended the season with a 20-33 overall record.