In its first seven games of the season, Duke was not seriously challenged en route to a perfect record. Facing three teams this weekend at the East Carolina Invitational that had a combined .609 winning percentage in 2006, that figured to change.
Duke's high-powered offense-which had been averaging 11.6 runs per game prior to this weekend-scored just four runs in each of the games. But against Washington (1-5) Friday and St. John's (0-6) Saturday, that was enough as the Blue Devil pitchers limited their opponents to three and two runs, respectively.
The young Duke team's nine-game, season-opening winning streak came to an end Sunday, as the Blue Devils (9-1) fell 11-4 to the Pirates (5-5) Sunday.
"We got great pitching from our starters," head coach Sean McNally said. "We did a good job of pounding the strike zone and giving our defense a chance to play."
Against Washington, starter Tony Bajoczky allowed two runs over six and one-third innings. Saturday's starter, Andrew Wolcott, surrendered just one run in six innings. Jeremy Gould, however, failed to make it out of the first inning Sunday. The starters' performances were directly related to the final results.
"[Pitching] is really important," Wolcott said. "Just throwing strikes and making the hitters put it in play-we have an excellent defense, so that's what we need to do."
The Blue Devils did not score as much this weekend as they did in their first seven games, but they got some timely hitting. Duke defeated Washington when freshman Gabriel Saade scored from second on a groundout in the bottom of the ninth. Saade was running on the pitch and slid safely under the catcher's tag to give the Blue Devils a 4-3 walk-off victory.
Then on Saturday, with the Blue Devils clinging to a one-run lead in the top of the ninth, Jonathan Anderson doubled home Saade to give Duke a two-run cushion. St. John's never scored again as the Blue Devils won 4-2.
The victories could prove crucial for the Blue Devils, nearly half of whom are freshmen. Now they have tangible evidence that they can beat quality teams after beating up on weaker opponents the first two weeks, Wolcott said.
"We knew it would be a great experience for our young players going on the road in a hostile environment," McNally said. "We had confidence going in-and coming out, we got wins against two veteran teams with good baseball programs."
After playing three solid teams for the first time this season, Duke has a better idea of where it stands-and what it needs to do to continue its hot start.
"This gives us a blueprint of how we have to play to be successful," McNally said. "We have to play good defense, pound the strike zone and do the little things offensively."
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