With regular shortstop Gabriel Saade out of the lineup Tuesday night, the Blue Devils struggled offensively-and they could be in for more trouble.
Ryan McCurdy, who switched from second base to short to fill in for Saade, was injured while diving for a ball in the top of the ninth inning of Duke's 6-0 loss to UNC-Greensboro (19-18) at Jack Coombs Field.
Three Spartan pitchers combined for a five-hit shutout of the Blue Devils (23-16), who lost just their second non-conference game of the season. The other was an 11-4 defeat to East Carolina Feb. 25.
"Greensboro outplayed us in all phases," head coach Sean McNally said. "Pretty much across the board-it wasn't one particular thing or one big hit or one big breakdown. I just thought across the board they were the better team tonight."
Duke starter Andrew Wolcott kept the Blue Devils in the game, allowing three runs-two earned-over six innings of work. But he got no run support from an inconsistent Duke offense that failed to find a groove against the Spartan pitchers.
"We hit a lot of balls hard-we just couldn't seem to string any hits together," said Jonathan Anderson, who went 2-for-4. "We just didn't really seem to put ourselves in any situation where we were putting the pitcher and their defense in a little bit of pressure. We just didn't come through."
Anderson attempted to put pressure on the UNC-G defense, showing bunt in all four of his at-bats. But no other Blue Devil recorded multiple hits-and when Duke did hit the ball hard, it was often right at a defender.
"We need to have a consistent approach and stick to the plan," junior Brett Bartles said. "I feel like some games we get away from the plan, and tonight was... one of those nights."
As if the loss itself was not enough, Duke suddenly finds itself in trouble in the middle infield. Saade was not seen on the bench, and McNally declined to comment on his absence.
McCurdy, meanwhile, suffered a shoulder injury on Joel Johnson's grounder up the middle in the ninth. It was unclear how much time McCurdy may miss-if any-but he spent several minutes on the ground after the injury and appeared to be in a lot of pain.
To close out the game, the Blue Devils turned to Jonathan Foreman at third base, with Bartles moving to shortstop-the position he played last year-and Kyle Butler at second base.
"We'll look at some different combinations Wednesday and Thursday and then make a decision-just kind of go from there," McNally said. "But [the lineup at the end of the game is] a possibility."
The team expressed confidence that other players will step up to fill the voids. But with the offense looking shaky once again, the losses are a significant blow to Duke's chances of making the ACC tournament.
"We have a lot guys that could step in," Bartles said. "[But] McCurdy's an important player for us.... It's going to hurt."
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