Hitting was expected to be the Blue Devils' strength entering the season, but Duke's bats remained silent Monday against Power-5 competition as the team continued to stumble out of the gates.
The Blue Devils lost a 2-0 pitcher's duel to Southern California at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, only managing six hits all afternoon. Although six different Duke pitchers worked out of jams in nearly every inning after Trojan right fielder Corey Dempster hit a towering solo home run over the Blue Monster in left field in the top of the third inning, the Blue Devil offense could not capitalize on opportunities to push runners across.
"We’ve got to address some things offensively. We’re a better team than this. I think everybody in that locker room knows that," Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. "We should have put up runs on that team today."
Southern California (6-2) doubled its lead in the top of the seventh inning when Matthew Acosta tried to steal home from third base. Junior southpaw Luke Whitten was not fooled, throwing home to Chris Dutra in plenty of time, but the freshman catcher dropped the throw and could not find the ball on the ground to give Acosta time to slide in safely.
Acosta was on third base in the first place because Whitten's pickoff throw to second sailed into center field, as two of Duke's four errors on the day gifted the Trojans their second run.
"We need to do a better job of executing the pick play in that situation," Pollard said. "The play at the plate, we got the step off call, we got an executed throw to the plate, we just didn’t catch the baseball, and that’s them taking a big chance right there. If we catch the ball, he’s out."
Trojan Starter Mason Perryman dominated the Blue Devils (3-6) with six innings of shutout ball, only striking out one batter but inducing 12 harmless flyouts with an active slider. After leadoff hitter Jimmy Herron drilled a line drive off the left-field wall but got thrown out at second base to start the bottom of the first inning, Perryman retired eight straight batters until Herron came to the plate again to start the fourth.
The speedy sophomore singled and stole second, sliding in safely this time with nobody out, but he could not come around to score, as the middle of the order got under three shallow fly balls.
Although Duke's leadoff man reached base again in the sixth when Chase Cheek took advantage of an error on a soft chopper, he was thrown out trying to steal second to become the second Blue Devil gunned down on the basepaths.
"It’s a game of inches, especially when you’re trying to steal bags, and if you have the opportunity to get a bigger lead because of the pick move from the pitcher or because he’s not picking over at all, you’ve got to be willing to do that," Pollard said. "You’ve got to have the courage to do that, and then you’re running a shorter distance to second base. It’s kind of a math equation."
Duke's final real scoring opportunity came in the bottom of the seventh inning, with a single by Justin Bellinger and a walk to Michael Smiciklas putting two runners on base with one out, but Max Miller struck out and Peter Zyla hit a hard line drive straight to Acosta in left field to end the threat.
Bellinger went 3-for-4 and Herron was 2-for-4 to lead the Blue Devils, though Duke's only other hit came from right fielder Griffin Conine and all six hits were singles.
The Blue Devil pitching staff did its best to keep the team in the game, struggling with control at times but coming through with 14 strikeouts and leaving 13 runners stranded on base. After freshman Bill Chillari gave up the home run to Dempster, Matt Mervis, Nick Hendrix, Whitten and Zack Kesterson did not give up an earned run the rest of the way, and the Trojans finished the game 1-for-14 with runners in scoring position.
"We can’t put the leadoff batter on seven out of nine innings.... You cannot consistently do that and expect to get the kind of results we got tonight, but at the same time, I thought guys did bear down in those moments," Pollard said. "We’ve got to show that type of fight in the batter’s box."
Despite the two runs representing Southern California's lowest output of the season, it found a way to win by holding an opponent to fewer than two runs for the first time all season.
The Blue Devils will take the field again at the DBAP this weekend for a four-game series against Princeton.
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