It was easy for Duke to shrug off Davidson’s visit to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Davidson is in last place in the Southern Conference, and the Blue Devils had just swept ACC foe Boston College.
Duke (17-13, 6-6 ACC) crushed the Wildcats by a score of 9-3, led by three-hit performances by three different Blue Devils.
“One of the things you have to fight against after having a really good conference weekend is you come out in the midweek and you’re complacent,” head coach Chris Pollard said. “Our guys did a good job of coming out and playing the game hungry.”
Davidson (8-19, 4-11 Southern Conference) opened the game with back-to-back singles by freshman second baseman Sam Foy and senior short stop Michael Zeblo. With two outs, designated hitter Ryan Lowe singled Foy home and gave Davidson an early 1-0 lead.
The Blue Devils, however, responded immediately in the bottom of the first. After battling with Davidson starter Rob Bain, senior right fielder Jeff Kremer walked and then stole second. He was later doubled home by reigning ACC Player of the Week Jordan Betts, who then scored when first baseman Chris Marconcini reached base off a dropped pop-up error by Foy.
“I thought us having an answer was big,” Pollard said. “The [double] by Betts was huge, and so was the dropped ball to grab the lead.”
The Blue Devils took advantage of another defensively sloppy inning from the Wildcats to pad their lead in the second. After singling, Duke shortstop Kenny Koplove advanced to second after Bain fumbled a throw to second base, and then advanced to third on a wild pitch. Sophomore second baseman Andy Perez grounded into a double play, but it was enough to score Koplove and put Duke ahead 3-1.
The Blue Devils scored another run in the third, when designated hitter Matt Barezo doubled home center fielder Grant McCabe, and again in the fifth, when Marconcini singled home McCabe again, to increase their lead to 5-2.
Koplove, McCabe and Barezo each tallied three hits. Freshman Koplove, who struggled at the plate at the start of the season, has now hit in each of the Blue Devils’ last seven games.
“I saw the ball pretty well,” Koplove said. “I’ve been working a lot… and making a lot of adjustments on my swing, trying to calm it down. I’m going to keep working on it.”
Davidson threatened in the top of the sixth, when Duke freshman righty Michael Matuella relieved starter James Marvel. Matuella allowed a leadoff walk on four pitches to Wildcat centerfielder Forrest Brandt, who used his speed on the bases to steal second and score on a single from Lowe. Lowe then stole second, and attempted to score when catcher Chris Dyer singled through the right side. Kremer, however, nailed a rocket to catcher Reed Anthes to get Lowe out at the plate, and end the inning with only one run surrendered.
Davidson did not score again, but the Blue Devils’ offense continued to thrive. In the bottom of the seventh, after Barezo walked home Kremer, Koplove added his third hit of the day with a single to score McCabe. Left fielder Mark Lumpa then walked to push home another run. Walks proved to be a problem for the Wildcats all game long: in total, Davidson walked Duke nine times, while Marvel, Matuella, freshman reliever Nick Hendrix and sophomore closer Andrew Istler only issued one walk combined.
“We definitely took advantage of some walks [from Davidson] there,” Pollard said. “And our pitchers pitched exceptionally well. The big number that I look at is only giving up one walk. [Marvel] gave us a quality start, and we got big innings out of our bullpen.”
While Davidson has now lost 10 games in a row, the Blue Devils increased their win steak to five. Although that number is impressive—especially considering that Duke is now only four wins away from matching its win total from last season—the Blue Devils aren’t ready to stop just yet.
“We’re going to keep it going,” Koplove said. “We’re going to keep rolling. I want eight. I want to sweep [No. 12] Georgia Tech. It’s ACC baseball, and I want to win against a powerhouse and show them who we are.”
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