Duke opens up its home schedule this wekend against traditional Atlantic-10 conference power Fordham. Although the Rams (0-3) have garnered over 4,000 wins in their 150 seasons—the most wins in NCAA Division I baseball history—the last decade was forgettable, as Fordham has an NCAA tournament drought stretching back to 1998.
After losing three of four in their opening series against Baylor and No. 22 Georgia, however, the Blue Devils (1-3) are in no place to take any team lightly.
“Fordham’s a good team,” Duke head coach Sean McNally said. “They are one of the better teams in the Northeast year in and year out. They are really scrappy and really aggressive, especially around the bases.”
Friday’s contest will not only be the series opener, but the Blue Devils’ first home game of the year in the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in downtown Durham. The slightly smaller ballpark will be a boon to a struggling group of Duke hitters, though the pitchers may not share their enthusiasm.
The fences at Jack Coombs Field, Duke’s home park on campus, are 330 feet from home plate down each foul line and 405 to straight center. DBAP is a similar 400 feet to dead center, but the real change comes in left field, where the Blue Monster is only 302 feet from the plate.
“We built our team around pitching and defense, which fits our park,” McNally said. “This will impact us to some degree. There is more of an opportunity to hit home runs, both for us and for the opposition. But the positives outweigh the negatives.”
This weekend appears to be an inopportune time for the Blue Devils to move into a smaller park after their pitchers were lit up for 27 runs over four games last weekend. With the exception of Saturday’s game with Baylor, in which Michael Ness and Ben Grisz gave up a combined three runs in a losing effort, Duke’s pitching staff struggled in Waco, Texas. Starting on the mound this weekend for the Blue Devils will be Ness (0-0, 1.80 ERA), Eric Pfisterer (0-1, 10.38) and Jonathan Foreman (0-0, 5.40).
“We’ve had some good pitching performances out there, but there’s work to be done,” McNally said. “In all phases we have got to be better.”
Additionally, the offense will need to wake up this weekend if the Blue Devils are to unveil their new home on a high note. Senior Jeremy Gould and freshman Eric Brady have been the lone bright spots at the plate so far, combining for 13 of the team’s 34 hits this season. Both have recorded hits in all four games this year, but the pair will need some support from the rest of the squad to get over the hump.
“I think our offense is the key,” McNally said. “We scored 19 runs in four games, so we showed signs of being a good offense. Hitting comes and goes, but we expect to be better this weekend.”
Although the matchup with Fordham highlights two teams moving in opposite directions, if Duke is not careful it will simply become another notch on the Rams’ decorated belts.
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