Texas Baseball drops series finale to Duke, 5-2

The No. 13 Texas Longhorns lost 5-2 to the Duke Blue Devils in the third game of the opening weekend series here at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The Longhorns (2-1), who wore throwback jerseys from the 1949-50 seasons in Sunday afternoon’s game, beat Duke in the opening two games of the series but were unable to come back from a 3-0 deficit to complete the sweep.

The Blue Devils took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Jeff Kremer hit a single and advanced to second base after UT’s John Curtiss walked Mike Rosenfeld to first. A single to deep left field by Andy Perez brought Kremer home to give Duke the first run of the game.

Texas’ Kevin Lusson hit a double deep to right field, and Jacob Felts was walked to first, but Texas was unable to convert and score in the bottom of the second.

Duke kept the scoring going in the top of the third. Anthony D’Alessandro laced a single through the right side of the infield and Matt Berezo hit a double down the rightfield line to put two runners in scoring position. D’Alessandro scored on a passed ball, and Berezo extended the Duke lead to 3-0 with a sacrifice fly by Will Piwnica-Worms.

In the bottom of the sixth, UT’s Brooks Marlow singled to the shortstop and advanced to second base on an Erich Weiss sacrifice bunt. Landon Steinhagen reached first on a fielding error by Duke shortstop Matt Berezo to put runners on the corners. However, Texas was again unable to get a run across as Kevin Lusson fouled out.

The Longhorns were held scoreless through the first seven innings, as Duke starting pitcher Robert Huber matched a career-high six strikeouts.  Texas finally put runs on the board in the bottom of the eighth inning. Weiss on a single to right field with one out. After Steinhagen flied out to right, Lusson came up to bat with two outs and hit a homer deep down the right field line to bring Weiss home and cut the Duke lead to 3-2.  Lusson went 2-for-4 on the day, with two RBI’s, a homerun, and a double.

Duke responded in the top of the ninth inning with two more runs of its own. Perez hit a double down the right field line and McCabe bunted and reached first base on a fielder’s choice, putting Duke runners on first and third base, in position to score. A throwing error by Texas shortstop Christian Summers allowed D’Alessandro to reach first, McCabe to advance to second, and Perez to score an unearned run, putting Duke up 4-2. With runners on first and second, Berezo reached second on a fielder’s choice bunt, D’Alessandro advanced to third, and McCabe scored an unearned run for Duke to extend their lead to 5-2.

A Texas double play by Marlow and Lusson prevented the Blue Devils from scoring any more runs, but the Longhorns were unable to recover in the bottom of the ninth.

Duke’s Huber (1-0) was awarded the win, with Nick Piscotty taking the mound in the ninth to record the save.

In John Curtiss’ collegiate start, he recorded four strikeouts, but gave up four hits, three runs, two earned runs, in 3.0 innings pitched, to get saddled with the loss.

Freshman Ricky Jacquez came in from the bullpen to relieve Curtiss at the top of the fourth inning. Jacquez scattered four hits and two walks while striking out four over 5.0 scoreless innings.

The Longhorns return to action this Tuesday at 6 p.m. when they host UT Arlington. The game will be broadcast on the Longhorn Network.Texas Baseball drops series finale to Duke, 5-2