May 7, 2006
Box Score
Norristown, Pa. - Duquesne University's baseball team swept their second consecutive Atlantic 10 Conference series and extended their winning streak to seven games with Sunday's 10-7 win over Saint Joseph's at Latshaw-McCarthy Field in the Philadelphia suburbs.
Freshman Anthony Manley was 4-for-5 in the leadoff spot and scored three runs. Sophomore Derek Mechling and freshman Mike Carroll both homered. Mechling went 3-for-5, scored twice and had 3 RBI. Carroll's 2-of-4 included a three-run double.
Junior Jeff Naughton kept Saint Joseph's off the scoreboard for the first six innings, raising his record to 4-0, and classmate Alex Sharick picked up his first save via 2 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.
The Dukes (16-29, 10-11 A-10) had lost their five previous A-10 series before going 3-0 against Fordham (21-28, 11-10 A-10) last weekend on Duquesne Field. Their four wins had put them in 13th place in the league standings through April 27, 2006.
These six conference wins move Duquesne into a tie for seventh with Richmond, one game below .500. DU is one slot short of their goal -- make the A-10 Championships.
(The top six of 14 teams get a trip to the tournament which will be held on Fordham's Houlihan Park at Jack Coffey Field in the Bronx, N.Y., beginning Thursday, May 24, 2006.)
Duquesne scored all 10 runs by the fifth inning. Saint Joseph's first scored in the seventh, with their total of seven runs.
Manley led off the first and third innings with one-base hits and scored in both frames, via Aaron Janusey and Mechling singles. Carroll's double came in the third. Mechling crashed a 2-run, 2-out homer in the fourth, Carroll then finished DU's scoring with a lead-off home run in the fifth.
Naughton spread three hits through six innings before the Hawks (16-33, 8-13 A-10) scored. SJU put up all seven runs in the seventh off six hits. Three of St. Joe's scores were unearned. Adriano Petrutz had a two-run double.
Sharick got the final Saint Joseph's out in that frame. He gave up just one hit and a walk in the last two innings to secure the victory for the Dukes.
Duquesne has two non-conference games before they host fourth-place Charlotte (29-17-1, 13-8 A-10) next weekend in Pittsburgh. The Red and Blue journey to Cleveland, Ohio for a Tuesday, May 9, 2006 contest at 6:00 p.m. against Cleveland State on Jacobs Field, the home of the Cleveland Indians.
Next, the Dukes and the Pittsburgh Panthers head to Washington, Pa. for a 7:00 p.m. match on Wednesday, May 10, 2006 on the Washington Wild Things' Falconi Field.
