The Blue Devil fielders made four errors, the pitchers handed out two balks and seven walks—while striking out just one—and the hitters left nine men on base in a 10-2 thumping at the hands of Florida State Sunday at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
The defeat capped the weekend series sweep for the No. 12 Seminoles (14-1, 3-0 in the ACC) and stretched Duke’s losing streak to six.
“[Head coach Sean McNally] simply told us we need to play better,” Duke center fielder Will Piwnica-Worms said. “That’s what it comes down to....We need to play defense, we need to throw the ball over the plate and we need play small ball.”
The Blue Devils (7-11, 0-3) trailed early after a two-out rally in the third inning put Florida State up 5-1, and were never able to get back in it. The rally began when Seminole first baseman Jayce Boyd hit a rope to left field that David Perkins fielded before nailing cut-off man Anthony LaBruna with seemingly plenty of time to get an aggressive Boyd who had made a hard turn at first.
LaBruna, though, appeared to have trouble getting the ball out of his glove and Boyd slid safely into second. Two doubles, a triple, an infield single and a balk later, the score was 5-1.
A three-error top of the fifth pushed Florida State’s lead to 8-1 and dashed any hopes of a comeback. Sophomore Dillon Haviland replaced starter Robert Huber for his first pitching appearance of the season. Haviland induced a swinging bunt but his errant throw put the leadoff man on second. A groundout and walk put men on first and second before a misplayed single to left allowed the first run of the inning. After a lineout, Perkins overran a single to left—his second error of the inning—allowing two more Seminoles to cross the plate.
“Defense was at a low level all weekend,” McNally said. “Its very frustrating for us because we hang our hat on our ability to defend—that’s how we’ve made our mark since I’ve been here….That’ll be a key for us moving forward, we have to throw strikes and we have to defend better.”
Sophomore right-hander Huber (2-2) made his fourth start for the Blue Devils but only made it through the fourth frame. He surrendered seven hits and five earned runs while walking three and failing to record a strikeout.
The Blue Devils got on the board in the second to even up the game at one apiece. Jordan Betts—who went 2-for-3 on the day and scored both Duke runs—and Andy Perez each reached on a walk and single, respectively, with two outs. Anthony LaBruna worked a full count, allowing the two runners to move on the pitch, before lacing an opposite-field single.
Duke’s losing streak stretches to six games with the loss. It began after the Blue Devils took the first two matchups last weekend against George Washington. Duke then dropped the series finale before midweek losses to Western Carolina and Appalachian State. Florida State outlasted a Marcus Stroman-led Duke with a comeback 5-3 victory Friday and shut the Blue Devils out, 5-0, Saturday.
“If you look at the good teams, even if they lose on a Friday night, they are going to come back with the same confidence on Saturday,” Piwnica-Worms said. “We can play with anyone on the field. We’ve got the best pitcher in the country on a Friday night. Right now, we’re just not swinging the bats. And that just comes down to confidence.”
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