After rain postponed Friday’s series opener against ACC cellar dweller Virginia Tech, both offenses took a while to wake up in a surprising pitchers’ duel in game one of Saturday's makeup doubleheader.
Things returned to form in game two with Duke’s highest-scoring game of the season.
Hokie catcher Andrew Mogg hit a walk-off double to beat the Blue Devils 3-2 in the series opener Saturday afternoon at English Field at Union Park in Blacksburg, Va., as Duke’s two runs were the fewest Virginia Tech has allowed against an ACC opponent all season.
But after going scoreless for the first eight innings of the day, Blue Devil sophomore Justin Bellinger hit a game-tying two-run homer in the ninth inning before Moggs' heroics, giving Duke’s offense some momentum heading into the second game of the day. The Blue Devils scored 10 runs in the first two innings on their way to a 19-9 win, and seven batters finished with multiple RBIs.
“We didn’t have time to sit around and feel sorry for ourselves. You lose a walk-off game and sometimes it’s hard to get off the mat,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. “Our team exhibited a lot of toughness to bounce back the way they did.… I felt like our guys really made a statement.”
Virginia Tech (13-27, 4-16 in the ACC) entered the day with an ACC-worst 6.48 team ERA, but staff ace Kit Scheetz shut Duke (22-18, 8-12) down in a complete-game win in game one. The redshirt junior southpaw struck out eight Blue Devils, allowing six hits and no walks, but graduate student Kellen Urbon also held the Hokies scoreless until the seventh inning.
Redshirt sophomore Nick Anderson smacked a leadoff double in the bottom of the seventh, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly by Garrett Hudson. Two hit batters sandwiched around Hudson’s fly signaled the end of Urbon’s outing, and Virginia Tech tacked on a valuable insurance run when Rahiem Cooper hit an RBI single off Duke reliever Ryan Day.
Bellinger tied the game with one swing of the bat after sophomore Jack Labosky was hit by a pitch to set the table with one out in the ninth, but Sheetz struck out sophomore Michael Smiciklas with his 108th pitch of the game to strand the go-ahead run on second.
“He threw three pitches for strikes and did a good job of keeping us off-balance,” Pollard said. “He only went to a three-ball count two different times in the ballgame, so he was really in control. We knew he was a good arm and he pitched well today.”
Labosky took the mound for the bottom half of the frame and surrendered a leadoff walk to Sam Fragale, who advanced into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt before Mogg’s game-winner.
After the Blue Devils and the Hokies combined for five runs in the first game, each team scored four runs in the first inning of game two. Duke loaded the bases with two walks and a hit batsmen to set Peter Zyla up for a two-run double in the top of the first, and Smiciklas singled to drive in two more runs. The Blue Devils took advantage of 10 walks and three hit batters to supplement 19 hits.
“We took the free offense that was given to us. They had a ton of walks and a hit-by-pitch, so we used that free offense and we barreled a lot of baseballs,” Pollard said. “We were hitting the ball hard.”
Virginia Tech had an immediate response, tying the score in the bottom half of the frame with two-run homers by Phil Sciretta and Fragale off of southpaw Trent Swart. The Blue Devils did not let the game stay tied for long, though, and had three doubles, two singles, two walks and a hit batsmen in the second inning to break the game open with six runs.
Duke scored at least one run in each of the first seven frames to keep pouring it on, highlighted by a solo home run by Cris Perez in the fourth. Perez, Bellinger and freshmen Zack Kone and Chris Proctor all had three hits, as Bellinger went 3-for-3 with a walk, three RBIs and four runs scored.
“Justin has swung it great for a month. Since being inserted in the lineup in mid-March, he’s been our most consistent offensive producer and has really found his power stroke,” Pollard said. “What’s really impressive about him is he’s hit left-handed pitching and right-handed pitching very well.”
Duke’s 19 runs were its highest scoring output since a 22-0 no-hitter against N.C. Central in 2008.
Swart allowed five runs on 10 hits in just three innings of work, but junior Bailey Clark—who was bumped from the weekend rotation into the bullpen entering the week—earned the win with five innings of work in long relief, allowing three runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts.
“He pitched really well—five innings, didn’t walk a batter [and] had very few three-ball counts,” Pollard said. “[He] did a great job of pitching to contact when we had the big lead. We wanted him to challenge and he did that.”
The rubber match of the series will start Sunday at 1 p.m.
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