Facing its first true test of the season over the weekend, Duke had an opportunity to make a statement to the rest of the ACC.
That statement: Gone are the days when the Blue Devils were ACC pushovers.
While Duke (10-6, 3-3 in the ACC) dropped the series to ACC Coastal Division leader and No. 6 Miami (14-3, 5-1), both of the Blue Devils' losses were heartbreakers ended by Hurricane walk-off hits.
Duke was able to salvage the middle game in the three-game series behind a masterful pitching performance from senior Andrew Wolcott.
Friday night, Duke held a 4-1 lead after the third inning thanks to senior catcher Matt Williams' three RBIs, two of which drove in junior Alex Hassan. Hassan went two-for-four on the day, including an RBI of his own.
However, starting pitcher Christopher Manno could not hold the Blue Devil lead, and the Hurricanes scored three runs in the fifth inning to tie the game. Manno struck out four in 4.2 innings of work, but walked four batters as well.
The game remained deadlocked until the ninth inning, when Duke brought in Hassan in an attempt to send the game to extra innings. After Hassan allowed back-to-back singles to put a man in scoring position, Miami second baseman Scott Lawson ripped a walk-off double to give the Hurricanes the opening-game victory and hand Hassan his first loss since being named the Blue Devils' closer last season.
Duke's pitching staff put the team on its back Saturday after the close loss the previous day. Behind Wolcott's 7.1 shutout innings, the Blue Devils defeated the Hurricanes 2-0.
Wolcott struck out five batters while walking only one in his career-best performance. He allowed only one runner to reach third base.
Reliever Michael Ness retired four straight batters to close out the game for Duke and hand Miami only its third shutout since 2005. Hassan scored both of the Blue Devils' runs off of sacrifices from Nate Freiman and Jeremy Gould, respectively.
Despite the dominating performance, Duke came out flat in the rubber match Sunday afternoon and quickly found itself down 6-1. The Blue Devils, however, responded by scoring five runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings to tie the game. They were led by Williams' three hits, two RBIs and a run.
But Williams' most important play of the game might have been the run he did not score, as Lawson threw him out at the plate with the game tied 6-6 in the eighth.
That play allowed Miami's Jason Hagerty to hit a walk-off solo homer to give the Hurricanes the 7-6 victory. The game-winning hit once again came off Hassan, who was saddled with his second loss of the series despite batting .583 with six runs and three RBIs over the weekend.
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