Brian McAfee is new to Duke this year, but his veteran toughness and experience shined through Sunday during the best start of his college career.
The graduate transfer from Cornell threw his first complete game to carry the Blue Devils past No. 14 Virginia 3-0 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. Duke avoided a sweep in its first ACC series behind its first complete-game shutout by a starting pitcher since Robert Huber blanked Georgia Tech on Apr. 7, 2013.
"That’s how a fifth-year senior steps up for you. He came to Duke to pitch in these types of ballgames,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. “We needed somebody to step up and put us on their back, and he did it today. I couldn’t be happier for him.”
The Cavaliers (11-5, 2-1 in the ACC) managed just seven baserunners all game on five harmless singles, a hit by pitch and an error as McAfee commanded all four pitches well and did not concede a walk, throwing 72 of his 94 pitches for strikes in an efficient performance.
It was not the first time the 6-foot-3 hurler had silenced the Cavaliers—he tossed seven scoreless innings against Virginia for the Big Red last season. But the Cavaliers rallied for four runs in the eighth inning against Cornell’s bullpen and won that contest 5-4.
“I was confident because I had played against some of the hitters before, but I saw them hit over the first couple games of the series and I was shocked at how hard they were hitting the ball,” McAfee said. “I seem to pitch well against them, but you can’t really make any mistakes. They’re aggressive. I’ve got to be careful where I throw that first pitch.”
It appeared that McAfee would again have to exit in the eighth inning Sunday with his team leading when a one-out line drive off the bat of Adam Haseley struck him in the throwing hand and trickled towards foul territory for a single. But after the trainers came out to the mound to examine him, he threw a few warm-up pitches and remained in the game, setting down the middle of Virginia’s order with a lineout and groundout to finish the frame.
“It hurts…. I kind of caught it in the side of the palm,” McAfee said. “Coach Pollard told me it was my ballgame, so I just had to tell myself that it was good enough to get through the next inning, and I got a little lucky there with some hard-hit balls, so it worked out.”
After another one-out single in the ninth inning, McAfee induced a double play on a grounder to shortstop Zack Kone to end the contest.
It was a fitting finish to the game, as strong infield defense by Duke (9-7, 1-2) played a major role in McAfee’s gem. Twenty of Virginia’s outs came on ground balls as Kone led the charge with nine assists, and McAfee had just three strikeouts.
“That’s an incredible infield we have right there, and an incredible outfield as well. It bodes well for me being a ground-ball pitcher having a great infield behind me like that,” McAfee said. “I swear, [Kone] is the best fielding shortstop in the league.”
The sure-handed freshman did commit the first error of his career on a sharp grounder in the fifth to create the Cavaliers’ biggest scoring threat with a runner on second and no outs, but a groundout on the next play could not advance the runner and another groundout and fly-out ended the inning.
The Blue Devils generated most of their offense in the first inning, when sophomores Ryan Day and Max Miller lined consecutive singles into left field with nobody out. Two passed balls by junior catcher Matt Thaiss sandwiched around a sacrifice fly to deep center by freshman Jimmy Herron brought them both around to score.
Duke tacked on another run in the seventh inning after freshman Griffin Conine led off with a hard-hit grounder that was ruled a single after third baseman Andy Weber could not control it ranging to his left. Conine advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a two-out single into left field by sophomore Evan Dougherty.
“Evan’s hit there in the seventh was a big hit. We did a good job of moving guys,” Pollard said. “We didn’t bang it all around the ballpark—they pitched well again—but we did enough and we took advantage of the opportunities that we had.”
Virginia starter Tommy Doyle yielded all five Duke hits—all of them singles—and allowed just two earned runs during seven innings of work, but was outdueled by his counterpart on the mound.
The Blue Devils continue their 12-game homestand at the DBAP Tuesday at 6 p.m. against Maryland-Eastern Shore as a series against No. 6 North Carolina looms next weekend.
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