Friday, Duke stood poised for a big weekend.
Playing Wake Forest (12-31, 4-17 in the ACC), the ACC’s doormat, the Blue Devils had won Friday’s game convincingly, 10-3, behind freshman Marcus Stroman’s complete game and shortstop Jake Lemmerman’s big bat. With only three games separating the team from eighth place in the ACC and a subsequent berth in the conference tournament, Duke (24-19, 7-14) looked to sweep the Demon Deacons and gain ground on the teams ahead of it in the standings.
“Marcus’s performance was the highlight of the weekend,” head coach Sean McNally said. “I thought he looked really comfortable.... He was relaxed, confident.”
Stroman’s arm, along with a complete offensive showing, including home runs by Jeremy Gould, Will Currier and Lemmerman, had the Blue Devils confident heading into the two pivotal weekend games. Pitching on Saturday was Chase Bebout—Duke had a 6-1 record in games he started. And on Sunday, the Blue Devils faced struggling Wake Forest starter Michael Dimock, who entered Sunday’s contest with a 6.47 ERA. The Blue Devils were ready to gain crucial wins heading into the final stretch of the season.
What a weekend it turned out to be.
The Blue Devils got crushed on Saturday 18-3 and Sunday was more of the same, as they lost 7-1 to lose the series and drop to the cellar of the ACC Coastal Division.
Behind Ryan Semeniuk and Mike Murray, who combined for eight RBI, Wake Forest destroyed Duke on Saturday. Normally reliable freshman starter Chase Bebout let up seven runs and five hits in just two innings of work, failing to get out of the fifth inning for the first time all season. Offensively, Duke grounded into four double plays to quell any potential rallies.
“Having 27 outs and to make eight [outs], make one-third of your outs, on four swings of the bat is really frustrating,” McNally said. “We hit some balls well, just hit them at people. Frustrating day no question.”
Sunday turned out to be even worse as the Blue Devils’ two strengths turned into weaknesses. Normally reliable defensively, Duke committed two errors that led to three unearned runs.
Bullpen ace Ben Grisz faltered in relief of starter Dennis O’Grady, surrendering two unearned runs along with three walks in less than an inning of relief. The Blue Devils found themselves down 5-0 after six innings.
“Ben Grisz has had a terrific year and struggled to throw strikes today… abnormal for him,” McNally said. “Today was not meant to be.”
Mustering only five hits and striking out eleven times against Wake Forest starter Dimock, the offense did not help matters either, scoring its only run in the ninth inning on a home run by centerfielder Will Piwnica-Worms.
McNally identified his team as playing poorly in every phase of the contest.
“We didn’t pitch well, we did not hit well, we did not defend well,” McNally said. “In the ACC you have to be at your best in at least two of the three phases. We were outplayed in all three.”
With the series loss to Wake Forest, Duke leaves with its ACC tournament hopes on life support. The Blue Devils have fourteen games remaining to gain ground on the eighth spot in the ACC and qualify for the ACC tournament for the second year in a row.
Despite the team’s backsliding, though, McNally is optimistic when looking forward to upcoming games against North Carolina A&T and Virginia.
“We are not as good we had hoped we would be coming out of the weekend,” he said. “But every game counts for one and we are always been at our best when we’ve played our best. We are capable of playing better, just have not been consistent enough. One game at a time, every win counts as one.”
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