With their sights set on making the eight-team ACC tournament May 23-27, the Blue Devils were hoping to win six of their final nine conference games.
That task just got a lot tougher.
Wake Forest (27-22, 11-13 in the ACC) swept Duke (26-20, 6-18) this weekend in Winston-Salem. The Blue Devils fell 13-6 Friday, came up short 4-3 in extra innings Saturday and lost 8-2 Sunday.
Duke struck first in the series, scoring two runs in the top of the first Friday. But the Demon Deacons then countered with six runs in their half of the inning.
The Blue Devils cut the lead to 7-5 in the sixth, but Wake Forest scored six more in the seventh to put the game out of reach. Wake Forest's ability to respond-and quickly-to Duke's scoring haunted the Blue Devils all weekend.
Duke turned to ace pitcher Tony Bajoczky Saturday, looking to rebound from Friday's loss. Bajoczky gave up three runs in seven innings, but left the game with his team trailing 3-2.
Jimmy Gallagher, however, made sure Bajoczky would not be charged with his third loss of the season. Gallagher launched a leadoff home run to right in the top of the ninth to even the score at three apiece-but once again Wake Forest bounced back, as Demon Deacon shortstop Dustin Hood drove in the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the tenth.
"We got terrific pitching on Saturday-Tony was really solid throughout," head coach Sean McNally said. "[Mike] Seander was very, very good late. We tied it up in the ninth and just couldn't push another run across."
Sunday, the Blue Devils failed to score over the first six innings, as Wake Forest jumped out to a 4-0 lead against starter Jonathan Anderson. But Gallagher and Matt Williams each drove in a run in the seventh to cut the Demon Deacon lead in half.
Yet again, Wake Forest countered with an explosive scoring attack, knocking in four runs in the bottom half of the frame to slow Duke's momentum and prevent a Blue Devil comeback.
"We were hanging around," McNally said. "We cut it to 4-2, and I felt like we were making a run at them-and we just needed to come back and shut them down in that seventh, and we weren't able to do it. That was critical."
One positive the Blue Devils can take away from the series is the solid performance of Gallagher, who hit .538 with a home run, four RBIs and three runs scored.
"Jimmy was consistent throughout-he swung the bat well and faced some tough left-handed pitching this weekend," McNally said. "Probably the thing I'm most proud about is he got an infield single in the ninth inning [Sunday] and ran hard. That's been characteristic of the way he's played the game this year."
Gallagher and the rest of the Blue Devils have a week and a half off before their next game against UNC-Greensboro May 9.
The players will work out on their own for the next week and then reconvene Sunday to prepare for the final portion of their schedule.
Although Duke's next game is against the Spartans, the looming series against Virginia Tech and Miami will be the most important games for the Blue Devils.
They may need to win all six of those contests to make the ACC tournament.
"Obviously, we wanted to win six out of our last nine, and that's still in play, dropping three here," McNally said. "It makes that very tough, but we've got to take it one game at a time.. It's still a possibility for us. We're capable of doing that-we know that."
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