Something about the Durham Bulls Athletic Park just bodes well for Duke.
The Blue Devils snapped their seven-game losing streak with a pair of midweek wins against two Atlantic 10 opponents at the DBAP. With Tuesday’s 10-6 win against Davidson and Wednesday’s 7-4 triumph against Richmond, the Blue Devils improved to 6-1 at the DBAP this season.
A trio of freshman southpaws took care of a potent Spider offense Wednesday night—with Chris McGrath, Luke Whitten and Mitch Stallings allowing just four hits through a combined eight innings pitched. Richmond entered the game ranked third in the nation in scoring at 8.3 runs per game and had eight of its nine starters batting .280 or better, but the Duke rookies kept their composure and consistently attacked the Spider batters in the strike zone.
“I told our guys this in the meeting—I think it was one of our best-pitched ballgames of the year,” head coach Chris Pollard said. “You look at the fact that they had the double and the home run back-to-back—those are really the only two good at-bats they had, and that doesn’t take anything away from their team. I think they have one of the best offensive clubs we’ve played to this point—the numbers suggest they have one of the best offensive clubs we’ve played this year.”
The Blue Devils (21-13) struck first against Richmond (17-9) thanks to some spotty play from the Spider defense. Captain Andy Perez led off the bottom of the first with a four-pitch walk and quickly moved to third on a stolen base—his 26th of the year—and a wild pitch. Fellow senior Mike Rosenfeld drew another walk two batters later and tried to steal second. The ensuing throw from catcher Aaron Newman skipped into centerfield, allowing Perez to score the game’s first run. Duke tacked on another run in the frame when—following a Jonathan Lloyd single—Newman struggled to hold onto the throw from the leftfielder with Rosenfeld barreling down the third base line.
Richmond’s high-octane offense finally got on track in the third inning after mustering just one lone walk in the opening two frames against McGrath. The Alpharetta, Ga., native recorded a strikeout to start the inning, but four straight batters reached base after that as a 2-0 Duke lead quickly became a 4-2 deficit.
The Spiders plated their first run on a double off the Blue Monster in left field from senior Michael Morman. They took the lead on the very next pitch, when third baseman Matt Dacey blasted his eighth home run of the season—a towering three-run shot over the fence in dead center field.
The Blue Devils retook the lead in the sixth, although they didn’t have to mash the ball around the park to do so. Duke drew seven consecutive one-out walks against three Spider pitchers—starter Justin Garcia issued the first two, and the ensuing five came from relievers James Lively and Dan Martinson. The seven straight free passes gave the Blue Devils four runs, and they pushed one more across thanks to a Rosenfeld sacrifice fly that extended their lead to 7-4.
“You don’t have that happen a whole lot. But when that happens, you’ve got to be willing to take what they give you,” Pollard said. “It was a good job by our guys of not getting out of the zone right there. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen seven in a row. I’ve been doing this for a long time—that’s a lot.”
Against Davidson, the Duke bats woke up from their recent slumber and piled up 10 runs on 12 hits. The Blue Devils fell behind 2-0 before they ever went to bat but responded immediately with a three-spot in the bottom of the first—highlighted by a leadoff homer from Perez—and three more runs across the next two frames.
Aside from Perez, most of the offense Tuesday came from freshmen. Pollard started seven rookies versus the Wildcats, and four of them collected multiple hits. The quartet of Lloyd, Max Miller, Peter Zyla and Ryan Day combined for five runs and four RBIs. Day also contributed on the mound, picking up the win with three scoreless innings in his first career start.
Lloyd—who doubles as a cornerback on the football squad—earned his first career start in left field Tuesday night, and his three-hit performance merited him a spot in the lineup again Wednesday. The Graham, N.C., native pointed out Duke’s success at the DBAP and expressed hope that the team can continue its strong midweek play when it takes on No. 5 Louisville Friday.
“We like playing at [the DBAP]. It’s a pro park—one of the nicest. It just brings a lot of energy when you get to play at a stadium like this, so we always get up to play here,” Lloyd said. “We had been taking it on the chin a little bit, and it just felt good to get back in the winning column and give us some momentum and confidence when we head back into conference play against Louisville this weekend.”
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