In a three-game sweep in its season-opening series with Mount Saint Mary's, the Blue Devils simply did what they were supposed to do-beat an overmatched opponent.
Duke (3-0) swept a double-header Saturday, 13-10 and 8-2, and won again Sunday 10-2 to take the set from the visiting Mountaineers (0-3) for the program's first 3-0 start since 1998.
From the first pitch Saturday, however, it did not seems as if the Blue Devils would take care of business at Jack Coombs Field.
Following a six-run Mountaineer second inning, the Blue Devils already had fallen behind by five runs. Nevertheless, Duke displayed toughness and patience in coming back, even after trailing so early.
"We did things in all phases of the game really well," McNally said. "I feel like we represented ourselves and our program really well this weekend."
Behind 7-2, Duke looked on pace to repeat the result of last year's season-opener, which it lost at home to High Point. But the Blue Devils knew they had put in far too much work during training to fall in the opening game.
"We looked at the other team and we said, 'There's no way this team has worked as hard as us'," junior Jimmy Gallagher said. "It definitely translated into success on the field."
In the fourth inning, that hard work began to show as the Blue Devils opened with freshman Alexander Hassan hitting a single to right field. The next batter, freshman Gabriel Saade, bunted for another single. Three more singles and a double later, Duke had leaped ahead of Mount Saint Mary's 11-7.
From there, Duke's pitching took over and showed signs of why a squad that finished 11th in the ACC last year could improve this spring. After the seven early runs were scored, the Blue Devils refocused and held the Mountaineers to a mere seven runs over the next 25 innings of play.
The Duke offense heated up, despite the winter temperatures, to give its pitchers a bigger cushion, as it added 29 more runs over those same 25 innings.
Despite scoring 31 runs over the series, no Duke batter hit a home run or had more than five runs batted in.
Mount Saint Mary's, which was held to only four runs in the second two outings, had one other reasonable chance to win after its collapse in the first game.
Going into the bottom of the fourth inning of the third game, the Mountaineers trailed 4-1-a manageable deficit for a team that had already proven itself capable to put up a six-spot in one inning.
Three Duke hits and four walks later, however, a surmountable three-run hole turned into an overbearing 8-1 deficit, and the Blue Devils won their first-ever opening series sweep under McNally.
"We got a lot accomplished this weekend," McNally said. "We got a lot of guys in there, and I really liked the way they stayed with it."
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