May 19, 2005

Game One Box Score

Game Two Box Score

The Duquesne University baseball team clinched its third straight Atlantic 10 Championship berth with a dramatic 3-2 extra-inning win over visiting Saint Joseph's in game one of Thursday's noon doubleheader at Duquesne Field. In game two, the Red and Blue scored a school record 13 runs in the fifth inning to take a 13-6 decision over the Hawks.

The Dukes improved their conference record to 13-10 in A-10 play, locking up the sixth and final seed in this year's tournament which will be played May 25-28 at Fifth Third Field in Dayton, OH. The Red and Blue could still capture the five seed, pending the outcome of the final game of this series and the results of the Dayton-Richmond three-game set.

In game one action, the Dukes jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning as freshman Eric Morrison doubled in freshman Nolan Pena and junior Steve Maiolo hit a sacrifice fly to score Morrison. St. Joseph's cut the lead in half in the second inning when senior Rob Pimpinella walked and scored on a fielders choice by freshman Jeremy Scott. The Hawks tied the game in the fourth when Scott singled and scored a few batters later on a wild pitch. After three scoreless innings, Maiolo led off the bottom of the eighth with a walk-off homer to give the Dukes the win and the A-10 berth. Sophomore Alex Sharick picked up the win in relief while sophomore Jeff Williams suffered the loss for SJU.

In game two action, Duquesne trailed 4-0 after four and a half innings before exploding in the fifth frame. Sharick had two hits and three RBI in the inning while four other Dukes drove in two runs. Freshman Kenny Pustizzi had two hits and an RBI in the nightcap while sophomore Adriano Petrutz scored two runs and drove in another pair. Freshman Joe Kaye pitched four hitless innings to start off the game while sophomore Matt Melillo pitched the final three to earn the victory.

Game three action is scheduled to begin at noon on Friday.