When you’re staring down the barrel of a 10-game losing streak, it’s an incredible relief just to win a game against any opponent. Duke got that win Saturday—and got it against a top-10 opponent.
Although the Blue Devils (16-14, 3-9 in the ACC) dropped two of three against perennial powerhouse Georgia Tech (23-6, 11-1) this weekend at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, they were encouraged by their quality play against a tough opponent. Duke failed to protect an early lead on Friday, and could not get out of an early 7-0 hole on Sunday, but in between those games, they ended a run of nine straight losses with a 4-3 Saturday victory, handing Georgia Tech its first conference loss of the season.
“We needed to get a win,” head coach Sean McNally said. “It had been a while.”
Part of the problem for McNally during the losing streak has been finding the right combination of starting pitchers, as he has started a different trio in each of his four conference weekend series. Sophomore Chase Bebout, the team’s star Friday starter, was hit by a line drive March 11 against N.C. State, and though he appeared out of the bullpen last weekend, has yet to return to the rotation.
“We certainly miss him,” McNally said. “We’re not going to rush him back but we certainly would like to have him.”
Replacing him has been difficult due to the youth and size of the Blue Devil pitching staff. Duke has only 13 pitchers on its roster—just 10 schools in the nation have fewer. Of those 13, just five are upperclassmen, and 38 percent of the team’s innings have been pitched by freshmen.
On Friday, freshman Dillon Haviland took Bebout’s place. Duke supported him with two runs in the third off Georgia Tech’s Mark Pope, but the formidable Yellow Jacket offense answered with five runs in the next three innings. Pope was flawless the rest of the way, pitching a complete game while allowing just four hits and one earned run and striking out seven.
The Blue Devils’ few veterans led by example on Saturday, though, as senior starter Dennis O’Grady—the only Duke starter to have started in all seven weekend series so far—held Georgia Tech to three runs in his 5 2/3 innings of work. He left trailing 3-2, but shortstop Angelo LaBruna keyed a pair of rallies that each resulted in a hard-fought run.
After junior Ben Grisz held Georgia Tech at bay through the seventh, McNally was faced with a tough decision in picking his next pitcher. But rather than go back to his bullpen, he instead brought in the best arm available: his scheduled Sunday starter Marcus Stroman, who had struck out 30 men in 23 2/3 innings this season.
“When you have an chance to beat a Georgia Tech, you’ve got to seize that,” McNally said. “When you’re one inning away from a win versus nine... you just have to do that.”
The decision cost the Blue Devils their Sunday starter, but Stroman sealed the Saturday win in nearly perfect fashion, getting five of the final six outs by strikeout.
Sunday’s replacement for Stroman was freshman Mark Lumpa, who made his first collegiate start after 13 appearances and a 1.59 ERA out of the bullpen. He lasted just two-thirds of an inning, allowing two runs. Duke’s offense did its best to fight back, as Stroman, Jeff Kremer and freshman catcher Michael Rosenfeld each pounded out three hits. But baserunning mishaps and the continually growing Georgia Tech lead—they extended their advantage to 7-0 in the third and 10-2 in the fifth—spelled doom for the Blue Devils.
Still, McNally was pleased with his team’s effort on Sunday.
“Offensively we finally started to put some good swings on the ball, which we haven’t done a whole lot, haven’t been as competitive as we’re capable of,” he said.
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