FSU Takes On Blue Devils On The Road

Florida State will leave the state of Florida for the first time in 2007 as the Seminoles make their first ACC road trip of the season facing the Duke Blue Devils for a three-game set beginning Friday, March 30 at Jack Coombs Field. FSU leads the all-time series 59-17, while maintaining a record of 18-6 in games played in Durham, N.C. The Seminoles have won three straight and 38 of the last 41 meetings against the Blue Devils. Duke won the last game played in Durham back in 2005 defeating Florida State 8-7 in the finale of a three-game series. In the last six series played at Duke, Florida State is 14-4 with the Blue Devils taking one game in the series four times. Three of those four wins have been the final game of the series, while in 1995 the Blue Devils won game one. Florida State have never lost a series to Duke in Durham in eight opportunites (7-0-1). The 59 victories are the third most against an ACC opponent (Miami 131 & Wake Forest 64) and the .776 winning percentage is sixth among ACC opponents (Boston College 1.000, Maryland .941, Virginia Tech .833, Wake Forest .790 and Virginia .784).

Friday Pitchers:
Florida State: Bryan Henry, rhp, 6-0, 2.37 ERA
Duke: Alex Hassan, rhp, 2-0, 2.10 ERA

THE BLUE DEVILS IN 2007
Duke ran out to a 15-1 start winning its first nine games of the season. Since then, the Blue Devils have won four of their last 12 games and sit with an overall record of 18-9. Duke is 1-8 in league play this season as the Blue Devils lone win came against Georgia Tech last weekend. This weekend's series marks the third ACC series played at home for the Blue Devils in 2007. Seven of Duke's eight losses in league play have been decided by five runs or less including four by three runs or less. Duke opened ACC play at home against Boston College and was swept by the Eagles. The Blue Devils then traveled to face Clemson where they dropped all three games, two of which were decided by three runs or less. Duke returned home to face Georgia Tech last weekend winning one of three. The Blue Devils lost a one-run lead to the Jackets in the top of the ninth in game one, but bounced back nicely in Saturday's game shutting out Georgia Tech 3-0. GT would win the series with a 5-1 victory on Sunday. Jimmy Gallagher leads the Blue Devils with a .354 average, while as a team Duke is hitting .313. On the mound, Duke has posted a team ERA of 3.46 led by starters Alex Hassan (2.10) and Tony Bajoczky (2.27).