Duke baseball pulls off improbable rally to stun N.C. State on walkoff single

It takes a lot to change the trajectory of a program. But a pair of series wins against two rivals that made it to the College World Series last year may push Duke in the right direction.

Led by a combined three home runs and seven RBIs from Jordan Betts and Aaron Cohn, the Blue Devils came back from a six-run eighth inning deficit to beat N.C. State at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park 11-10 Sunday afternoon. The win claimed the series for Duke after winning Friday's contest 2-0 and losing Saturday's 6-2, and solidifies the Blue Devils as the Triangle champions following its sweep of North Carolina two weeks ago.

"This is a program-changing win, and we’re the champs of the Triangle, so to speak, and when’s the last time that happened?" Betts said. "This is a great moment for Duke and Duke baseball."

Duke starter Michael Matuella struggled early and lasted only 3.1 innings, allowing four runs and five hits in his short time on the mound. He was replaced by Nick Hendrix, who pitched three innings and allowed one run before giving way to Robert Huber in the sixth with the Blue Devils (20-17, 9-9 in the ACC) trailing 4-2. But N.C. State would not keep the game close for long.

The Wolfpack (20-15, 6-12) jumped all over Huber, as he allowed an RBI double to Brett Austin, an RBI single to Andrew Knizer and a two-run home run to Logan Ratledge. Duke’s work in the fifth and sixth innings to cut a 4-1 deficit to one was erased as N.C. State pushed its lead to 8-3.

After the Wolfpack extended their lead to 10-4 with a two-run eighth inning, the game seemed all but over.

"It woke us up a little bit," Betts said. "We’re down six there in the eighth and they just put a [four]-spot and a two-spot up and we’re in a lull. And a lot of games get out of hand right there."

But this was not the Duke team of old, which had lost all 17 games this season in which it had trailed after the seventh inning. After head coach Chris Pollard chastised his team for being lazy and letting the game slip away in the middle of the eighth inning, the Blue Devils started a rally that could become the turning point of their season.

"I probably can't repeat what all I said there, but that was the hardest I've gotten on our team this year," Pollard said. "Whether it lit a fire or not, I was really impressed with how we came out and responded to it. I knew when I did it we were going to go one of two directions."

Center fielder Mike Lumpa and catcher Mike Rosenfeld drew walks to lead off the inning, and Betts brought them home with his second home run of the day—and the season—sending it soaring over the Blue Monster and bringing the Blue Devils within three.

"I come up there and take a half check-swing at a slider. You can’t do that," Betts said. "He threw another off-speed pitch and I’m down 0-2. I don’t know what the call was or if he just missed that bad, but he left a fastball up-and-in and I just reacted to it."

Right fielder Chris Marconcini followed Betts with a single, and Cohn cut the lead to one with his first-career home run.

In the top of the ninth, Andrew Istler navigated around a two-out single to send Duke into the bottom of the ninth inning still trailing by just one run and brimming with confidence.

"It's the first time that we've gone into the bottom of the ninth down where I kind of walked up and down the dugout and it was very clear everybody in the dugout felt like [winning] was a forgone conclusion," Pollard said. "They assumed we were going to win the ballgame. And that's a big step for our program because we haven't had that."

Cameron Neal started things off for Duke in the ninth, reaching after being hit by a pitch in just his second at-bat of the season. That Wolfpack mistake was compounded by another N.C. State error, as Austin threw Lumpa's sacrifice bunt attempt down the first base line, allowing Anthony D'Alessandro—who came on to run for Neal—to score from first and Lumpa to advance all the way to third base.

With the score knotted at 10 and the winning run 90 feet away, the Wolfpack struck out Rosenfeld before intentionally walking Betts and Marconcini to load the bases.

Up came Cohn.

The Blue Devil first baseman lined the first pitch he saw past the outstretched glove of shortstop Trea Turner to bring Lumpa home to complete the miraculous comeback for the Blue Devils.

"When they struck Mike out, I kind of had a feeling it was going to come down to me," Cohn said. "After the two walks, I had a feeling they were going to throw a fastball so I went up there saw fastball first pitch and got it."

Despite last weekend's historical sweep of the Tar Heels, the Blue Devils saw Sunday's victory as the sweeter win because of how they won.

"Obviously sweeping Carolina—unbelievable," Betts said. "And some people would call that a program-changing series, but just the way this one ended, the momentum we’re going to have going forward, I really expect this to catapult us to great things the rest of the way."