The baseball team’s weekend went from bad to worse Sunday afternoon.
After dropping the first two games of their three game series against Clemson, the Blue Devils were primed to salvage the road trip when when they took a 6-4 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning. Duke’s hopes were destroyed, however, by a 12-run, 11-hit Tiger inning that propelled Clemson (18-13, 9-3 in the ACC) to a 16-6 victory and completed the sweep.
“It’s frustrating,” freshman Jimmy Gallagher said. “Where we are right now—that wasn’t where we expected to be in the beginning of the season. Coach [Bill Hillier] is doing his best to keep the morale of the team up. But it’s tough.”
Duke (9-26, 1-14) built up the 6-4 lead in spite of the 15 runners it left on base during the contest. With the game tied 4-4 in the top of the eighth, the Blue Devils loaded the bases with nobody out but could only score two runs. They needed help to do so—the first run was scored when Clemson second baseman Taylor Harbin’s throw pulled the shortstop off the bag; the second was scored when reliever Stephen Clyne issued a walk with the bags full.
“I don’t think it’s so much about Clemson’s pitching,” Gallagher said of his team’s offensive problems. “Where other teams are driving the the ball to the gaps, we just haven’t had games like that. We aren’t getting that extra-base hit when we need it.”
Clemson’s offensive downpour in the bottom of the eighth made Duke’s missed opportunity moot, however. Starter Danny Otero had scattered a mere six hits over seven innings, but the game quickly unravelled when he gave up five consecutive hits. David Torcise, Jim Perry and Kyle Perry all took turns on the hill, but none could get the Blue Devils out of the inning.
Twelve runs later, Jonathan Anderson stopped the bleeding when he induced a 4-6-3 double play.
Duke lost in similarly aggravating fashion Friday. Shortstop Brett Bartles’ three RBIs gave the Blue Devils an early 3-1 advantage, but starter Greg Burke broke down in the bottom of the sixth. The senior gave up five runs before leaving the game with no outs recorded in the inning. The Tigers would score three more runs before being retired and went on to win 9-3.
Saturday’s game was decided in the bottom of the fourth inning. Gallagher, Duke’s starting pitcher, opened the frame with back-to-back walks. With Duke leading 3-2, sophomore Tony Bajoczky came in to relieve Gallagher. Bajoczky allowed both inherited runners to score and permitted Clemson to earn two more runs in the inning.
The Tigers never looked back, scoring a total of seven runs off of Bajoczky on the way to an 11-6 victory.
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