After a month of snow days and freezing temperatures in the state of North Carolina, the weather has finally become consistently warmer and brighter. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Boston.
Duke hits the road this weekend to face off against Boston College, but the two teams will not be playing at the Eagles' home stadium in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Due to the historic amount of snowfall that landed in Boston this winter and cold weather expected this weekend, the Blue Devils and Eagles will play in Newark, Del., at the University of Delaware’s Bob Hannah Stadium. Friday and Saturday’s contests are set to begin at 1 p.m. and first pitch of the series finale Sunday will be at noon.
“It's hard to say [how the neutral site will impact the series] until we get there,” head coach Chris Pollard said. “It has the ability to [affect the series] but it’s a university and a facility that I’ve never been to.”
Duke ace and No. 2 major league prospect Michael Matuella will take the mound for the opener Friday. This will be Matuella’s second full start since injuring his right forearm after the season opener Feb. 13 against California.
In his previous start March 20—a game the Blue Devils won 5-3 against Pittsburgh—the right-hander allowed his first earned run of the season. The Great Falls, Va., native surrendered five hits and two walks, striking out five Panthers in 6.1 innings of work.
Duke (19-6, 4-5 in the ACC) won its first conference series of the year last weekend against Pittsburgh and will look to continue that momentum against a Boston College team that has struggled on the mound so far this year.
The Eagles (8-13, 1-7) have a team ERA of 5.55 through their first 21 games—the second-worst number in the conference, just better than Wake Forest’s 5.75 mark. The Blue Devil offense has been inconsistent throughout the year but should be able to take advantage of a Boston College pitching staff that struggles to get batters out.
“Some guys are starting to heat up at the plate,” Pollard said. “When we swing the bat with runners in scoring position with the way we’ve pitched to this point in the year, we’ve been tough to beat. The only games where we didn’t put ourselves in a position to win have been when we just didn’t generate good at bats with runners in scoring position.”
Right-hander Andrew Istler will be on the bump for game two. The senior from Wellington, Fla., has the fourth-best ERA of any Duke pitcher since 1974—the year aluminum bats were introduced to collegiate play—and will look to improve upon that ERA against an Eagle offense that ranks 10th in the ACC in batting average and outside the top 10 in runs scored, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
Game three will not feature Bailey Clark, the sophomore right-hander who has been holding down the number three spot in the rotation all season. Pollard said that Clark will be shut down for a week after he became the second Blue Devil starter to experience forearm tightness.
Pollard has yet to announce who will be starting Sunday in Clark’s place and said that it will not be decided until after Saturday’s contest.
As Duke approaches the midway point in conference play with a 4-5 record, it seems important for the Blue Devils to take advantage of the opportunity to play a struggling opponent on neutral turf and sweep the series. But Pollard said that isn’t the focus of his team.
“We’re focusing on taking it a day at a time,” Pollard said. “Our mantra is always ‘win today,’ and we have to live in the moment today and execute—have a sense of purpose and get ourselves game-ready. That’s just how we approach it.”
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