After burning through four relievers in Friday's series opener, the Blue Devil bullpen needed a breather Saturday, and Andrew Istler gave them one.
The senior held the Yellow Jackets to six hits and three runs in 7.2 innings of work and Jalen Phillips delivered a two-RBI double in the seventh inning to send Duke past Georgia Tech 6-3 at Jack Coombs Field to even the series at a game apiece.
"We got a good start when we really needed it. We went fairly deep in our bullpen yesterday and we came into this ball game knowing he had to get deep in the game," Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. "I thought he got stronger as the game went on, I thought he used his two-seam and his changeup to produce a lot of sink—just a tremendous outing."
Duke's pitching staff had to eat up five innings Friday after Michael Matuella exited after four, adhering to a pitch count as he works back from arm stiffness. The burden therefore fell on Istler to pitch deep into the game, no easy task against a powerful Yellow Jacket lineup that had clubbed 16 home runs entering the game. But the Wellington, Fla., native was more than up to the task, retiring Georgia Tech in order in the first, third and fifth and picking up four strikeouts.
Fifteen of the 23 outs recorded by Istler came via ground balls, a testament to his ability to locate at the bottom of the strike zone.
"For him, just staying down in the zone is key, and he did that for the most part today," catcher Mike Rosenfeld said. "He's a workhorse. He kind of stays at the same velocity [all game] and he has no problem throwing a bunch of innings for us. For him to go out there and throw like that is huge."
Istler (2-1) got some early run support in the bottom of the first. Right fielder Peter Zyla and Rosenfeld singled with one out, and Zyla came around to score on a wild pitch by Georgia Tech starter Cole Pitts (0-1). Another wild pitch moved Rosenfeld to third, and the redshirt senior made it 2-0 on a sacrifice fly by freshman Justin Bellinger.
After his team struck out 11 times and managed just two runs on 11 hits in the series opener, Pollard shuffled the lineup Saturday, moving Zyla, Rosenfeld and Bellinger up in the order. The trio continued to get on base, combining for three hits and five walks.
Georgia Tech (13-5, 3-2 in the ACC) got a run back in the second after a leadoff triple from designated hitter A.J. Murray, but the Blue Devils (14-4, 2-3) answered back in the third. Left fielder Jalen Phillips—who dropped from second to seventh in the lineup—roped a double down the right field line to score Cris Perez, but Bellinger was thrown out trying to score from first for the final out of the inning.
Despite the six runs, the Blue Devils probably should have scored even more. Duke stranded a season-high 13 men on base, including leaving the bases loaded in the fourth, seventh and eighth. The Blue Devil offense was set down in order just once, staying patient at the plate to draw 10 walks and striking out just five times.
"Early in the season we had a good bit of strikeouts, so we've been working with [volunteer assistant coach Mark] Hayes on seeing more pitches, seeing pitches longer in two strike counts, seeing balls deeper and it's paying off," Phillips said. "It showed today."
Georgia Tech got back within one in the fourth, but Duke tacked on insurance runs in the seventh. Rosenfeld led off with a bunt single and advanced to third on an errant throw by third baseman Brandon Gold after fielding Cris Perez's grounder. Georgia Tech made a pitching change, and after a walk and a strikeout, Phillips greeted southpaw Tanner Shelton with a double down the right field line—his second of the day—to plate two runs.
Matt Phillips came in to pitch for the Yellow Jackets and recorded two strikeouts to end the threat, stranding three Blue Devils.
"What we did was we put the three guys in the middle of the lineup who had been giving us our best at-bats with runners in scoring position. Rosenfeld, Cris Perez and Bellinger had the best numbers with runners in scoring position on the team, so that's why we made the decision to put them in that spot," Pollard said. "It worked out well, because the guys who wound up coming up with runners in scoring position were guys at the bottom of the lineup and then Jalen got up there and really delivered."
Istler—who threw 117 pitches—appeared on his way to another three-up, three-down inning in the eighth, inducing consecutive groundouts to Kenny Koplove at shortstop. But with two outs, he hung a change-up to leadoff hitter Daniel Spingola, who deposited it over the fence in right-center field—no small feat in Duke's pitcher-friendly ballpark.
Pollard gave his right-hander one more chance to get out of the inning, but a walk to the next hitter brought him out of the dugout to make a change. Koplove got freshman Kel Johnson—Georgia Tech's best hitter with six home runs—to hit a long but harmless fly ball to Phillips in left. Koplove then got two quick strikeouts in the ninth before working himself into a bit of a jam, but got a groundout with two men on to pick up his fourth save of the year.
Duke's Bailey Clark will duel Georgia Tech's Brandon Gold in the rubber match of the series Sunday at 1 p.m.
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