After being swept by No. 6 Florida State, which broke up Duke’s 8-for-9 win streak, Duke head coach Chris Pollard knew his team had to bounce back when North Carolina A&T (13-24) came to Jack Coombs Field.
“A win was exactly what we needed,” he said. “Florida State pitched us very well down there. They didn’t really give us anything, and we had to earn everything we got.”
The Blue Devils (22-17) earned their win against the Aggies with a 12-2 offensive romp. With this victory, Duke exceeded its win total from last season.
Duke, however, did not only notch 14 hits, but also was walked 10 times by N.C. A&T.
“We talked about the importance of walks,” Pollard said. “We obviously had more freebies today than we did all weekend at Florida State. Today we did a good job of putting some good swings on the ball, but also taking advantage of walks and what they gave us to get some big innings.”
The Aggies struck first in the second, when left fielder Dairio Little reached first on a line drive that tipped off Duke starting pitcher Michael Matuella’s glove. After stealing second, N.C. A&T center fielder Brandon Wilkerson singled home Little, to make the score 1-0.
But, just as Pollard wanted, the Blue Devils bounced back with an explosive seven-run third inning.
Catcher Ryan Munger led off with a hard pop-up to left field, which Little bobbled, allowing Munger to reach third. Second baseman Angelo La Bruna and first baseman Andy Perez were both hit by pitches, followed by a walk to right fielder Jeff Kremer to score Munger. Center fielder Grant McCabe then hit a dribbler to shortstop, which got La Bruna out at second, but was overthrown to first base by Aggie second baseman Jeovanny Tolentino to score both Perez and Kremer. After third baseman Jordan Betts doubled home McCabe and left fielder Mark Lumpa singled home Betts, N.C. A&T starter Shane Carter was pulled from the game.
Jamal Clark, on the mound in relief of Carter, was not any more stable. Clark began by walking shortstop Kenny Koplove, followed by a balk to advance Koplove and Betts to second and third, before walking designated hitter David Perkins. Visibly shaken, Clark hit Munger with a pitch to score Lumpa. Aggie reliever Justin Godette, who was sent to the mound to replace Clark after he hit Munger, gave up one run before finally retiring the Blue Devils.
“Their starter had thrown well coming into the game, but he hadn’t started yet so we knew at some point he would run out of gas,” Pollard said. “It was important to wait him out and get into the bullpen… and force them to get some arms into the game that they probably didn’t want to pitch tonight.”
Duke padded its 7-1 lead in the fourth, when a Koplove double scored Kremer and McCabe, and advanced Lumpa—who had previously walked—to third. A sacrifice fly by Perkins and a double by Munger scored both Koplove and Lumpa, to increase the score to 11-1 in favor of the Blue Devils. They only scored 10 overall against the Seminoles this past weekend.
Lumpa finished the game with two hits and three walks in six at bats. His hit streak is now at 10 games, which has fueled Duke’s recent offensive success.
“I’ve just been seeing the ball well lately and I’ve had a good offensive approach,” Lumpa said. “I’ve been working with the coaches and I’ve really benefited from the rest of the team hitting the ball well.”
On the other side of the ball, Matuella earned the win after giving up only one earned run in 5.2 innings pitched. The Blue Devils’ bullpen was nearly perfect in relief of the freshman, with the trio of Andrew Istler, Remy Janco and Sarkis Ohanian giving up only one hit and no runs or walks to close out the game.
“That was as good an outing as [our bullpen] has had all year,” Pollard said. “They came in and were really aggressive with their deliveries. We pitched well, we played good defense and guys had some really good approaches at the plate. It was a really good bounce-back game in all three phases.”
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