McAfee, Stallings combine for gem as Duke baseball beats Hokies 3-1

Duke’s offense exploded Saturday afternoon, but it was the Blue Devils’ pitching that keyed a pivotal conference win Sunday.

Brian McAfee hurled eight strong innings and southpaw Mitch Stallings recorded his sixth save of the season as the Blue Devils defeated Virginia Tech 3-1 Sunday afternoon at English Field at Union Park in Blacksburg, Va. Duke lost a pitchers’ duel in the series opener but blew out the Hokies 19-9 in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader before squeaking out one more well-pitched game to win yet another ACC series.

After surrendering a career-high seven runs on 10 hits in five innings in a loss against Miami April 17, McAfee returned to form against the Hokies. The Cornell transfer—who lowered his ERA to 3.78—allowed no walks and kept Hokie batters guessing as he worked the bottom of the strike zone and consistently painted the corners. The right-hander also received help from the defense behind him, which turned three double plays. 

“We played very well today as a team,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. “We felt like going into the ballgame that if [McAfee] executed at the bottom of the zone, he could produce a lot of ground-ball contact against this team and he did…. We took a couple of hits away from them with our infield defense.”

After the Blue Devils (23-18, 9-12 in the ACC) left freshman centerfielder Jimmy Herron stranded in the first inning, they provided McAfee with run support in the top of the second. Sophomore right fielder Peter Zyla led off with a single up the middle past the outstretched glove of shortstop Ryan Tufts before freshman Zack Kone reached on a grounder through the right side. Following a Michael Smiciklas walk to load the bases, the Blue Devils broke through when Herron drew another free pass with two outs. But the Hokies limited the damage when a leaping grab by second baseman Matt Dauby robbed freshman catcher Chris Proctor of a potential bases-clearing double.

Duke had another opportunity to score two innings later when Kone and sophomore Justin Bellinger each singled with one out. But Hokie left-hander Pack Naughton escaped the jam when he forced Zyla to hit a chopper to first baseman Phil Sciretta for an inning-ending double play.

The Blue Devils added to their lead in the sixth with two insurance runs. Kone led off with a single through the right side and advanced to second as Smicklas reached on a blooper up the middle. After Naughton hit Max Miller to load the bases, Kone raced home on a sacrifice fly by Herron. Duke manufactured its final run of the afternoon when Proctor walked and Smiciklas crossed the plate on a passed ball.

Kone—who is batting .321—stayed hot at the plate, finishing 3-for-5 with a run scored. Herron drew two walks in addition to his pair of RBIs.

Although Duke left 12 runners stranded, Pollard said he was impressed with his hitters’ at-bats and contact.

“[The 12 guys] left on base [is] a little misleading because we hit some balls hard with runners in scoring position [and] didn’t have anything to show for it,” Pollard said. “Our approach was good. We were also good situationally. We executed the sacrifice bunt. We executed the RBI sac fly and we ran the bases smartly.”

Virginia Tech (13-28, 4-17) tried to mount a comeback in the ninth. Sciretta led off with a double down the first-base line and scored when designated hitter Nick Anderson singled up the middle. The two hits spelled the end of the afternoon for McAfee as Pollard brought in Stallings, who registered the first out of the frame when Herron tracked down a fly ball off the bat of Sam Fragale on the left field warning track before running into the wall. Stallings then induced Andrew Mogg to ground into a game-ending double play.

“[McAfee] ran into a little trouble there. After the leadoff double, [pitching coach Pete Maki] and I discussed it and said that if the next batter reaches base, it’d be time to get him,” Pollard said. “Mitch did a great job of getting him off the field.”  

With Sunday’s win, the Blue Devils have now won three of their past four ACC series and must continue to do so if they are to secure a spot in the conference tournament, which accepts just the top five teams from each division. Duke currently sits tied with North Carolina for fifth place in the Coastal Division standings.

“Certainly, we’ve played well in conference play over the last month,” Pollard said. “We’ve had to win two of those series on the road, and that’s tough to do in the ACC…so I’m proud of our club.”

The Blue Devils will be a visitor in their hometown Wednesday, when they make the short crosstown trek to the Durham Athletic Park to meet N.C. Central at 6 p.m.