WRAL Sports Fan

WRALSportsFan

Bulls Edge Syracuse For Third Straight

May 22, 2007

Jason Hammel gave the Bulls his best outing this season to help Durham to its third straight win, 4-2 over Syracuse.

Hammel (2-5), who had dropped his last five starts, allowed just a run on five hits over seven innings, walking two and striking out five.

Durham staked Hammel to a 4-0 lead, collecting all 11 of the team's hits over the first five innings. Elliott Johnson drove in a pair in the second against lefty Jim Crowell (0-2) with a single. Jorge Velandia added a run-scoring hit in the third, and an error in the fifth plated the final run.

Hammel allowed a run in the fifth on a two-out bloop double to left by Wayne Lydon, but settled down to record a scoreless sixth and a 1-2-3 7th. Jon Switzer worked a scoreless eighth, and Scott Dohmann struck out Wayne Lydon in the ninth for his third save with the tying runs on base.

Johnson, Velandia, Ben Zobrist and Brent Butler each two of Durham's 11 hits. The Bulls (22-24), now 4-3 on an 11-game road trip, are off Wednesday, before facing Rochester on Thursday morning at 11 a.m.