Diamond Dukes Lose to Xavier 9-5 in A-10s

Duquesne's baseball team went up against a rested Xavier team in an elimination game of the Atlantic 10 Championship Friday afternoon and lost to the Musketeers, 9-5. The Dukes finished the season with a 26-29-1 record, and made its farthest penetration into the A-10 post-season tourney.

Box Score

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Senior Dante Plassio went 1-4 with three RBI, junior Bill Torre was 2-4 with an RBI and two runs scored and Eric Morrison was 2-3 with a run and an RBI.

Freshman Joe Lombardo pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings in relief, allowing just one hit while striking out three.

Xavier opened with three runs in the first, one in the second and five in the third to take a 9-0 lead. The Dukes lit the scoreboard with a run in the fourth before three scoreless innings ensued. The bats of the never-say-die Dukes awoke in the eighth though as the Red and Blue rallied for four runs to cut the lead to 9-5.

Sophomore Danny Brown and senior Nick Jones shut XU down in the ninth, but the Dukes could not muster any runs in the final inning.

Notes:

• The Musketeers will face Rhode Island tonight @ 7:30 p.m. at Campbell's Field.
• The winner takes on Charlotte for the A-10 Conference Title Saturday, May 24, 2008, at 12:00 noon.