University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Bulldogs Travel to Duke for Two-Game Series - UNC Asheville Bulldogs Official Athletics Site
01.01.1970 | Baseball
May 15, 2006
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Asheville, N.C.-- The UNC Asheville baseball team will finish the regular season with five straight road games beginning with a two game series at Duke at 7 p.m. on Tuesday and 3 p.m. on Wednesday. Both games can be heard live at uncabulldogs.com
The Bulldogs (23-28) are five games under .500 with five to play and are winners of seven of their last 10 games after taking two of three from Liberty over the weekend. Asheville has qualified for the Big South Conference tournament that will be held in Conway, S.C. from May 24-27.
Starting pitching has carried the Bulldogs over the last few weekends. Bulldog starters have a 2.81 ERA over the last 80 weekend innings pitched. Alan DeRatt is 4-0 with a 1.47 ERA in his last four starts. Chris Nigro is 2-2 with a 3.90 ERA. Michael Bogaert is 0-1 with a 3.95 ERA and Ben Buchanan made an emergency start on Saturday against Liberty and threw a complete game four-hitter. Bulldog starters are now 8-2 with one no-decision and three complete games over the last four weekends.
"Our pitchers are continuing to improve as the season goes along," said Asheville head coach Willie Stewart. "They are buying into what we are teaching, they are not walking people, and are giving us a chance to win games."
Duke (14-39) will not make the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament after losing three games to No. 8 Georgia Tech last weekend. The UNC Asheville series wraps up the season for the Blue Devils. Duke is 2-6 this season against Big South schools having dropped a pair of mid week games to High Point and a three-game weekend series to Winthrop. The Blue Devils took two out of three from Radford in a weekend series in February.
The Bulldogs are 0-3 against the ACC this season dropping three games at Florida State to begin the season. Duke is the first ACC team UNC Asheville ever defeated as the Bulldogs won the first ever meeting between the schools 16-10 during the 1990 season. The Blue Devils have won the last two meetings in the series with the last win coming 6-1 in 1993.
Elliott Arrington continues to lead the Bulldogs offensively with a .348 average and leads the team in doubles with 20. Kevin Mattison is trying to become the first player not only in UNC Asheville history but in the history of the Big South Conference to get double figures in doubles, triples, and home runs in the same season. He has 11 doubles, eight triples, and eight home runs with at least seven games including the tournament left to play.
"The Duke series will be a good test for us," said Stewart. We are playing with a lot of confidence and any time you play an ACC school it is a great opportunity."
