As most students make travel plans for spring break, Duke welcomes Temple (0-7) for a three-game set at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The Blue Devils (4-3) hope to extend their three-game winning streak off the strength of last weekend’s sweep of Fordham.
The Owls, out of the Atlantic 10, have started the year slowly but have still put runs on the board, averaging nearly eight runs over their last five games. Their struggles largely stem from the poor performance of an experienced pitching staff, combining for a team ERA of 11.75.
Despite the lackluster record, the Blue Devils aren’t taking anything for granted.
“We have a lot of respect for Temple,” Duke head coach Sean McNally said. “We’ll have to plan on being at our best to win. They’re a club that can and... will score runs. Coming out of the Northeast, their pitching evolves as the year goes on because they’re not able to get outside much in the preseason. We know Temple will pitch much better than they have the past couple weeks.”
Offensively, Temple is led by senior second baseman Tony Jusino, the reigning Philadelphia Big 5 Player of the Week, and junior leftfielder Byron McKoy.
“We’re going to attack those guys,” McNally said. “It will be a good opportunity for our pitching staff to test itself and see where we are.”
The Blue Devils will feature the same weekend rotation that was so successful against Fordham. Michael Ness (1-0, 3.60 ERA) will take the hill in Friday’s contest, while southpaw Eric Pfisterer (1-1, 8.68) and Jonathan Foreman (1-0, 3.75) will get the ball in the final two games of the series. Duke also boasts a bevy of talented relief men that McNally calls “the most talented staff I’ve had in five years at Duke.”
The relievers certainly lived up to that superlative last weekend, giving up only one earned run in ten innings of relief against Fordham.
Thus far, the Blue Devils’ offense has been inconsistent, averaging almost eight runs per game in Duke’s wins but being held to just over three in its losses. The Blue Devils have had success when facing a pitcher for the first time, scoring in the first inning of every game, but have struggled in responding to the pitchers’ adjustments the second and third times through the lineup.
“The buzz word is ‘aggressive,’” McNally said. “We want to try to create some big innings. We had some big innings against Fordham and we’d like to do more of that this weekend.”
This series with Temple begins a stretch of six games in six days for the Blue Devils, leading directly into ACC play against rival North Carolina.
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