A career-high five RBI at the plate Tuesday. A career-high six strikeouts on the mound yesterday. It’s been a good week to be Joe Pedevillano.
The junior southpaw, who drove in five in Tuesday’s 11-3 win over N.C. Central, notched a win in his first pitching appearance since May 14, 2009, throwing three and one-third scoreless innings as the Blue Devils defeated Charlotte 4-1 Wednesday night at Jack Coombs Field.
“I definitely wanted to get Joe in there,” Duke head coach Sean McNally said. “He’s pitched for us in the past and hasn’t pitched all year. I didn’t expect to throw him three and a third. I felt like he’d go an inning or so, maybe two, but he just got better and better. Sometimes you want to try not to over-manage. I left him out there, and he was terrific.”
Fellow junior lefty Eric Pfisterer started for Duke (15-4) but was on a short leash. McNally spread out the innings so that Pfisterer would still be available over the weekend. He went three, striking out one and walking two, before Mark Lumpa came in to start the fourth.
The Blue Devils got on the board early when David Perkins led off with a walk and came around to score on a wild pitch by the 49ers’ starter Micah Bryan. It was the only run of the game until Charlotte (12-5) took advantage off a Dennis O’Grady error to push across its only run to tie it up in the sixth.
McNally pulled Lumpa—who scattered two hits over two and two-thirds while striking out one—for Pedevillano later in the inning with two outs and the leading run on second. Pedevillano floated a curveball by the next hitter to end the threat.
Junior Will Piwnica-Worms put Duke back on top with a sacrifice fly in the seventh before Chris Marconcini broke the game open with a two-run, opposite-field home run in the eighth. It was the freshman’s first career home run and Duke’s third of the season.
“That was a huge spot,” McNally said. “2-1 versus 4-1 is a totally different game. [49ers pitcher Brian Hamilton] had a good fastball and Chris didn’t try to do too much, just put a good swing on it. We needed it.”
Marconcini’s hot hitting, 1.019 on-base plus slugging, was just one trend to continue Wednesday. Jeff Kremer reached base twice with a single and a walk, adding to his .506 on-base percentage. Meanwhile the freshman bats continued to lead the way with six of the team’s seven hits.
Charlotte came into the game off a 7-1 defeat at Wake Forest but still sported a strong season. The 49ers entered the game with a 2.10 team earned run average, .315 team batting average and had outscored their opponents 128-49.
Duke will now travel to Clemson this weekend for its second ACC series of the season.
“It’s going to be an experience for us freshman,” Marconcini said. “It’s going to be packed, it’s going to be loud and it’s going to be fun. Coach has prepared us really well for the ACC, and we’re all pumped for it.”
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