After grabbing the series opener against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., Friday night in a thrilling 3-2 game that lasted twelve innings, Duke grabbed the heavy lumber and blew the Hokies out of their own stadium to take the second game of the series 13-3.
“I thought it was our best offensive approach all year,” head coach Chris Pollard said. “I thought we swung the bats great. We were driving the baseball and we did a great job with two outs…. Guys were just really locked in. I really feel like our offense is starting to click and [it’s] a good time for that.”
Duke (23-17, 11-9 in the ACC) got another great pitching performance from its starter in Trent Swart. The junior, who is still working back from a forearm strain suffered earlier this season, shut out the Hokies (18-19-1, 7-13) in five innings of work, allowing only five hits and a walk.
After reliever Conner Stevens allowed three runs in 2.2 innings of relief, junior Sarkis Ohanian came in to collect the final four outs and shut Virginia Tech down.
“I thought [Swart] threw the ball well,” Pollard said. “Since he’s come back off of the forearm strain he’s gotten better each time out and a lot of that’s a product of the fact that he’s been able to get more midweek work in. His arm’s feeling better every week, he’s recovering quicker, and therefore he’s able to get more regular work in. But I thought his fastball location was much better today [and] he did a great job of making pitches when he needed to.”
The last two games have provided Duke with a much-needed boost in confidence in a season plagued by inconsistency and close losses on the road. Saturday’s game was the first real complete win for this Blue Devil squad with both the offense and pitching clicking at the same time.
Pollard said that with the way his team kept the momentum going after Friday’s win and all phases of his team clicking in Saturday’s, he believes his players are really starting to feel confident as they head down the final stretch of the regular season before the ACC tournament begins May 21.
But even with the weekend's wins under its belt, Pollard emphasized that it is important for his team to never be satisfied.
“It’s critical that we stay hungry,” Pollard said. “Obviously I want our guys to enjoy the fact that we played really well and feel good about that, but when you wake up tomorrow morning you better be hungry. You [always] have to play like it's a tight series. That's the type of fight that you have to come out with.”
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