Wild pitching, inconsistent fielding and poor clutch hitting doomed the Blue Devils last night at Jack Coombs Field as Duke fell to Ohio 6-3 and extended its losing streak to four.
The Blue Devils (15-8) squandered opportunities with men in scoring position and gave the Bobcats (11-9) several free passes—including walking and hitting batters with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth.
“Guys didn’t execute and it cost us,” head coach Sean McNally said. “If we don’t play well, if we’re not sharp, we’re not going to win. We don’t have a margin over any team that we play. Ohio outplayed us, so tip your hat to them.”
Junior southpaw Eric Pfisterer started for the Blue Devils, picking up his second loss of the season. He wasn’t sharp, but he utilized a plus changeup to battle through six and a third, allowing five hits and three earned while punching out five and walking four.
After a leadoff walk, triple and sac fly in the fourth pushed Ohio’s lead to 3-0, Pfisterer and freshman Drew Van Orden—who pitched the final two and two-thirds—held the Bobcats’ bats quiet until the ninth.
Marcus Stroman answered Ohio’s initial rally with two RBI singles in the fourth and sixth to cut the deficit to one. Eight straight balls and a sacrifice bunt put the tying runs on second and third with one out in the sixth. A hit-by-pitch loaded the bases for Stroman’s single, but back-to-back strikeouts ended the threat with the Blue Devils still trailing.
Stroman roped a double through the left-center gap to start a two-out rally in the eighth. An infield single and walk loaded the bases, but Duke again failed to push across that tying run after Joe Pedevillano flew out on a soft liner to left.
“We had tons, and tons and tons of opportunities,” McNally said. “We just didn’t get the big hit today.”
Ohio didn’t fare better over the first eight frames, but added three key insurance runs in the ninth. Two frozen ropes and a seeing-eye single loaded the bases with one out for the Bobcats. Van Orden rebounded from a 3-0 count on the ensuing hitter to induce a groundout, but a hit-by-pitch, error and walk gave Ohio all it needed.
The Blue Devils tacked on a run in the ninth but it was too little, too late. They stranded 12 runners, failing to capitalize with the tying run in scoring position in the sixth, seventh and eighth.
Duke looks to stem its losing streak this weekend when it travels to Chapel Hill to face No. 18 North Carolina for a three-game series.
“We’ll have two good days of practice and then we’ll hit the road,” McNally said. “That’s the great thing about college baseball. There’s always a game around the corner.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.