Four freshman pitchers held the Eagles to just two runs, and a seven-run third inning helped the Blue Devils dismantle cross-town rival North Carolina Central 11-2 Wednesday afternoon at Durham Athletic Park.
After undergoing elbow surgery last fall, Duke freshman Dillon Haviland returned to the diamond in his first career start for Duke. He took advantage of the opportunity, throwing two scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out one.
“My focus today was just getting ahead of batters, throwing strikes, keeping it low in the zone and not trying to do more than I had to,” Haviland said. “Let my defense make the plays and try to be as efficient as possible.”
Duke (4-1) took advantage of walks and a hit batter to score three runs in the first two innings off Eagles starter Douglas Dalley, and then exploded for seven runs in the third behind patient at-bats and clutch hitting. After Jordan Betts reached on an error and Dennis O’Grady was hit by a pitch, Matt Berezo stroked a double down the left field line to score Betts. O’Grady crossed home after Anthony D’Alessando slapped a base hit to left field.
“I thought we did a really nice job early,” head coach Sean McNally said. “We were patient early, trying to get a good pitch to hit…. We’ve done this a couple times this year with two outs—it just seems to gets contagious. We put our best swings together and ran the bases really well.”
The slugfest continued as Angelo LaBruna knocked an RBI double to left-center, and then Chris Marconcini smashed a towering triple that hit off the wall in deep center. Once Jeff Kremer notched his second RBI of the day and Betts hit an RBI double, the Blue Devils had accumulated a 10-run lead. Twelve Duke freshmen accounted for eight hits and seven RBI in the contest, including Marconcini and LaBruna, who each notched two hits and two RBI.
In the bottom of the third, Duke brought in freshman pitcher Robert Huber. He allowed just one run over four innings and picked up the win.
Freshman Tito Nava took over the mound in the seventh, and although he allowed two runners to reach base in the seventh and eighth innings, he gave up only one run while striking out two.
“I think this year more than any other year freshman pitchers are going to have a much bigger role,” Haviland said. “We’re going to have to step up and this is just a good game to get experience for us. We’re going to be asked to do a lot this year, and the more innings we throw the better chance we have of succeeding.”
After the third inning, North Carolina Central (0-4) pitchers Brandon Oatis and Jasper Jones kept the Blue Devils in check. Oatis pitched four innings, only surrendering one run while striking out six Blue Devils. Jones closed out the last two innings, also only giving up one hit and no runs.
“[The Eagles] have gotten better every year,” McNally said. “It’s a great thing for Duke and Durham for us to be downtown, we love playing at the old park. It gave us an opportunity to get some guys some much-needed experience.”
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