Through their first eight games, the Blue Devils had mostly played beyond their years. But with several underclassmen in its starting lineup, Duke demonstrated its youth Wednesday night.
A day after timely hitting and strong pitching helped the Blue Devils defeat Davidson 9-2, Duke fell 5-1 to Campbell at Jim Perry Stadium in Buies Creek, N.C., in the second game of a home-and-home series. Eight days after the Blue Devils defeated the Fighting Camels 4-0 in the teams’ meeting in Durham, the Duke bats fell silent Wednesday on the road.
The Blue Devil offense shined Tuesday night against the Wildcats, scratching out seven hits in the first inning to jump out to an early 5-0 lead. Defensively, starting pitcher Kellen Urbon tossed seven scoreless innings before the Blue Devils gave up two late runs.
But against Campbell, Duke’s batters struggled to string hits together. Although Blue Devil pitchers combined to record 14 strikeouts and limited the Fighting Camels to five hits and two extra-base hits, they made several costly mistakes early on.
“We have right now four freshmen and five sophomores playing a bunch. And sometimes it’s just the inconsistency of youth. It’s something that with time will improve,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. “We gave them some extra bases. We gave them some free bases that allowed them to get their offense going. We’ve done a pretty good job to date of limiting free bases. So you have those moments.”
Duke right-hander Jack Labosky started strong with a strikeout and ground-out in an 11-pitch first inning. But after striking out Brian Taylor, the sophomore surrendered a triple to the right-center field gap to Jimmy Monaghan. Labosky seemed to settle down thanks in part to a diving stop by sophomore third baseman Max Miller to hold Taylor at third base and throw out Justin Lamazares. But Campbell (4-4)registered its first run when Labosky threw a wild pitch that bounced off the backstop, allowing Monaghan to scramble home.
The Blue Devils (5-4) recorded their first hit in the third inning when freshman shortstop Zack Kone singled up the middle. But Campbell pitcher Tyson Messer quickly escaped the inning when Miller fouled out to first base and freshman right fielder Jimmy Herron flied out to center field to end the frame.
When Labosky returned to the mound in the bottom of the fourth, he seemed poised to cruise through the inning after striking out Taylor again. But then things fell apart.
Monaghan and Lamazares hit back-to-back singles to put runners on first and second before Drew Butler cleared the bases with a two-strike double down the right-field line. Although Pollard replaced Labosky with southpaw Luke Whitten, the bleeding continued. Butler advanced to third off J.D. Andreessen’s fly-out to right field, and the Fighting Camels extended their lead to 4-0 on another passed ball.
The Blue Devils quickly responded when five batters came to the plate in the fifth. Miller spurred the response with a single through the right side. After Herron singled to the left side, advancing Miller to second, the two runners trotted to second and third base thanks to a wild pitch. Although sophomore center fielder Evan Doughtery brought Miller home with a sacrifice fly, the Blue Devils left Herron stranded when sophomore Peter Zyla popped up to second base.
Duke’s pitching woes continued as the Fighting Camels extended their lead in the bottom of the fifth without recording a hit.
Whitten began the inning by hitting Kyle Prats with his first pitch, and after the sophomore walked Ben Calvano, Pollard brought in redshirt sophomore James Ziemba. The 6-foot-10 southpaw secured the first out of the inning when Anthony Lopez flied out to center field, but then lost his command as well. Campbell scored its final run when Ziemba walked the Fighting Camels’ next two batters.
Despite his pitching staff’s early struggles, Pollard was impressed that his squad did not surrender any additional runs in the last four innings. Ziemba worked three innings and allowed just one hit, and senior Nick Hendrix tossed a scoreless eighth.
“We gave them four free bases in that [fifth] inning. But from that point forward…we didn’t give them another free base the rest of the ballgame,” Pollard said. “We did some things well. We forced them to make some mistakes. We limited them to five hits and only one extra-base hit and we certainly played good defense.”
The Blue Devils had several more late opportunities to rally and narrow the deficit. In the sixth, sophomore second baseman Daniel Calabretta reached first base on an error after redshirt junior first baseman Jalen Phillips drew a two-out walk. But the inning ended when Kone struck out.
Three innings later, Duke pinch-hitter Michael Smiciklas led off with a walk and advanced to second when Kone—who finished 2-for-5 at the plate—reached on a bunt single with one out. But two more groundouts left Smiciklas and Kone stranded and clinched the Fighting Camels’ win.
“We forced them to make some mistakes,” Pollard said. “But we left some guys in scoring position.”
The Blue Devils will return to Durham Bulls Athletic Park Friday to begin a three-game weekend series against Toledo.
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