Duke needed just one run in its final game of the weekend to finish undefeated in its home classic.
The Blue Devils hosted the Duke Baseball Classic to open play at home, inviting three teams for round-robin play. Duke won its first two games Saturday by a comfortable margin but was forced to defend a one-run lead in its final game of the weekend, emerging undefeated through three games with a 1-0 win against Iona Sunday night.
"It was really good for us to play in a low-scoring game," head coach Chris Pollard said. "Our wins had been by fairly big margins to this point. You don't play in many big-separation, big-gap type games in the ACC, so we need to play in some close games like that and know how that feels."
Sophomore Bailey Clark kept the Gaels (1-6) scoreless through eight innings before junior Kenny Koplove sealed the deal for Duke (5-1). Clark claimed a career-best 11 strikeouts with his win, allowing just three hits and one walk on the night.
"It was certainly the best-pitched game we've had to this point this year. [Clark was] really in complete control," Pollard said. "And that's not a fluke. Bailey's been pitching like that this fall and this preseason. He through a good ballgame [Sunday Feb. 15] at Cal and certainly took another great step with that outing tonight."
Iona took a stab at evening the score but was denied every time, leading off the fourth, fifth and seventh innings withbase hits to bring the go-ahead run to the plate. Clark kept the Gaels from capitalizing, unshaken by the narrow, one-run lead.
"I'm just thinking about making my pitch—it really doesn't matter what's going on around me," Clark said. "I knew warming up that my arm felt good, and then after I got through the first inning—the first inning's always the hardest because you have the jitters—after you get through there you're just playing the game you've played since you were three or four years old."
The pitching effort proved strong from both sides. Iona's Eddie Macaluso took the loss despite nine strikeouts through his seven innings pitched. The right-hander also proved formidable in the infield, tagging out senior catcher Mike Rosenfeld as he slid into home plate with bases loaded. The out ended the eighth inning and prevented the Blue Devils from adding to their lead.
Duke scored in the first inning of all three of its weekend games, usually building on its lead throughout the game to put away any chance of a response from opponents. Sunday night brought a new challenge of protecting a narrow gap for nine frames—better practice for the tough competition brought on by the bulk of the season.
"Our guys did a really good job with it, considering it was really—except for the loss [Saturday Feb. 14] at Cal—the first close game we played in where we had to manage a lead—a one-run lead—basically the whole ball game," Pollard said.
The Blue Devils had no trouble with its two opponents Saturday, starting off the Classic with a two-run RBI double from sophomore Cris Perez to put Duke ahead of Hartford (2-1) early. The Hawks cut the lead in half with a run of their own, but the Blue Devils scored three unanswered runs in the fifth and six innings to claim the contest.
A couple hours later, the squad returned to the field and lurched out to a 4-0 lead in the first three innings against Delaware State (0-6), ending with the decisive 9-4 victory. Scoring first and fast proved to be the winning strategy for Duke this weekend as it has all season.
"[Scoring early has] kind of been the hallmark for us," Pollard said. "Obviously, if you can play with a lead it makes a big difference. The team that scores first wins a much greater percentage than 50 percent of the time, so we need to continue to be a good first-inning team."
The Blue Devils will not have much time to recover from their busy weekend, turning to face UNC-Greensboro Tuesday for a 3 p.m. matchup at Jack Coombs Stadium. The full weekend meant 20 different Duke players saw some part of the action, including nine different pitchers across the three games.
"It's a quick turnaround with the three games in essentially what's 24 hours... and then we don't have a lot of rest before we do it again. It'll be good for us, it's going to stretch our pitching," Pollard said. "We got several guys in the lineup this weekend, and that will help us build depth for down the road."
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