Duke baseball to host N.C. Central after snow-out

Despite Mother Nature’s apparent wishes, the Blue Devils are going to continue to try to play baseball.

After Tuesday’s scheduled game versus North Carolina-Greensboro was postponed due to weather and snow on the field, Duke heads back to the diamond at Jack Coombs Field for a mid-week matchup against local rival N.C. Central. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m.

With snow falling in Durham Tuesday morning and more in the forecast for Wednesday afternoon and evening, counting on a full nine innings might be a bit optimistic. The Blue Devils were also affected by weather this past weekend—when they swept the second annual Duke Baseball Classic—and have had to constantly adapt to weather conditions that have been less-than-ideal for baseball.

Cold weather can be especially worrisome for pitchers who are still trying to build up arm strength in the early weeks of the season. Aside from difficult field conditions, putting a player’s arm under heavy duress in cold weather makes them more prone to injury. But bullpen sessions and other side work still need to be completed—which is the fine line Duke has had to straddle thus far with the inclement weather.

“The short of it is you just have to bundle up and keep working,” Blue Devil head coach Chris Pollard said. “We don’t have an indoor facility. Our guys will go up there this afternoon and they’ll go through their pregame routine—which is what we call the day-before-a-game routine that they go through. They’ll be sloshing around in the snow a little bit, but that’s what we have to do to make sure we get our work in.”

Duke (5-1) will send freshman Chris McGrath—who was scheduled to take the ball for Tuesday’s contest—to the mound against the Eagles (1-4). McGrath is a 6-foot-4 southpaw who was selected in the 35th round of the MLB draft by the Seattle Mariners, but turned down their offer to come play for Pollard and the Blue Devils. The Atlanta native got his first taste of college baseball Saturday, when he earned the starting nod and tossed two scoreless innings in the Blue Devils’ 9-4 win against Delaware State.

Duke expects to use several starters on the mound to piece together Wednesday’s game—the same strategy it employed Saturday and a common approach toward non-conference, mid-week games. Pollard pulled McGrath after two innings Saturday and was satisfied with the rookie’s debut but is looking to have a bunch of guys log in-game innings as the team moves closer to the start of conference play.

“We intentionally got [McGrath] out of there after two innings—he would’ve been fine to keep going,” Pollard said. “He felt good, but we knew there was a chance he would come back in a split-start scenario during the week, and we didn’t want to extend him to a point where it was pushing the envelope to bring him back. He got out of there right at about 30 pitches and felt really good [and] had a good, clean second inning. You could tell there were a little bit of nerves there in the first inning, but he settled in nicely and I look for him to really be able to build off that tomorrow.”

“They had a veteran team last year and so did we,” Pollard said. “I think both teams are going to be new to each other. I think both programs are excited slash desperate to get out on the field and get some work in. I think both teams are looking at this as an opportunity to get live reps and continue to develop before we start conference play.”