Duke Baseball’s season came to an end Saturday with an 8-4 loss to N.C. State (36-20, 15-15 in the ACC).
In only three innings of work, junior starter Dennis O’Grady gave up eight runs—seven earned—and nine hits. Freshman Chase Bebout and senior Jonathan Foreman pitched five innings of scoreless ball in relief, but by then the damage was done, and Duke (29-27, 8-21) was unable to mount a comeback. Senior Jeremy Gould, in his last game with the Blue Devils, went 2-for-4, with two home runs and three RBI in the contest.
The loss Saturday capped a three-game sweep by the Wolfpack. In the opening game Thursday, N.C. State’s Jake Buchanan pitched a nine-strikeout complete game en route to an 8-3 victory. Back-to-back homers from Dallas Poulk and Drew Poulk off freshman starter Marcus Stroman put the Blue Devils into an early hole. From there, they never cut the score by more than two.
It looked like Duke might take game two of the series after a leadoff double from sophomore Will Piwnica-Worms led to a game-tying RBI single by junior Jake Lemmerman. A throwing error allowed Lemmerman to score, putting the Blue Devils up 6-5. Harold Riggins tied the game with a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth, though, and then in the 12th Kyle Wilson hit a game-winning double to give the Wolfpack the 7-6 win.
The Blue Devils outhit N.C. State 18-8, but they left 12 runners stranded during the contest. Leading hitters for Duke were sophomore Brian Litwin, who went 3-for-6, and Piwnica-Worms, who was 2-for-5 with an RBI.
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