It did not take the Blue Devils long to fall behind, but they rebounded and jumped back ahead just as quickly.
After falling behind 1-0 before it even came to bat, Duke answered the call and streaked past Columbia 5-2 Tuesday night at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Senior Andy Perez led off the bottom of the first with a home run on the first pitch he saw, blasting a shot over the right-field wall for his first dinger of the season—and just the second for the Blue Devils in 20 games.
For a club that had been struggling offensively, getting a boost right from the start was just the medicine it needed.
“It’s just good for the guys to see a ball go out of the ballpark and to see balls get in the gaps,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard told GoDuke.com. “Obviously Andy didn’t take long—he loves hitting in this park, he’s never made any bones about that.”
Duke (15-5) was not done in the opening frame after Perez’s leadoff shot. Shortstop Max Miller—filling in for usual starter Kenny Koplove, who was sidelined with an illness—followed up with a single to keep the momentum going. The Blue Devils would eventually push one more run across the plate when catcher Mike Rosenfeld scampered home on a Cris Perez fielder’s choice, giving Duke an early 2-1 edge.
But Columbia (3-8) had a bit of comeback spirit in it as well. The Lions responded immediately in the top of the second, when second baseman John Kinne led off with a double and later came around to score on a two-out RBI single by Lane Robinette.
With the game tied at 2-2, the Blue Devils finally took the lead for good in the bottom half of the frame. A pair of freshmen combined to capitalize on a defensive miscue by Columbia and push Duke ahead 3-2. Evan Dougherty led off by reaching on an error by right fielder Gus Craig and scored just two batters later on classmate Jack Labosky’s opposite-field single. Labosky had recently been moved down in the batting order, but turned in a quality night out of the nine-spot with two hits and two RBIs.
Given a one-run lead, the Blue Devil pitching staff made sure it would hold up. Junior Nick Hendrix—making the first start of his career—set the Lions down in order in the top of the third before giving way to the bullpen.
The bullpen was the collective star of the day for the Blue Devils, as three hurlers came out of the pen and combined to toss six shutout innings to cement the victory. Freshman Chris McGrath (2-0) relieved Hendrix and picked up the win, dominating for three innings—which tied the longest appearance of his career—and striking out five while lowering his ERA to 1.93. The Atlanta native finished his outing with a flourish, fanning all three Columbia batters he faced in the sixth inning.
“This was the best outing of Chris McGrath’s young career,” Pollard said. “He was really aggressive with everything he did, with both the fastball and the breaking ball he really attacked the zone.”
Next in line was veteran Sarkis Ohanian, who continued his strong senior season with 1.2 shutout innings in which he recorded three punchouts and yielded just one hit. Freshman Mitch Stallings came in with a runner on in the eighth and closed the door, firing 1.1 scoreless frames to earn the first save of his career.
The Blue Devils and the Lions will go at it again Wednesday, when they conclude the midweek two-game series with a 6 p.m. contest at the DBAP.
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