Duke has won two straight series against ranked ACC opponents, but its toughest test yet looms this weekend.
The Blue Devils will welcome No. 1 Miami to the Durham Bulls Athletics Park for a three-game series Friday through Sunday, with both teams entering the weekend playing their best baseball of the year. The Hurricanes have won their last 11 games—the nation’s longest active streak—and rose to the top spot in the rankings this week, but Duke has proven it can compete with the best in recent weeks, winning nine of its last 11 games and taking two of three from both then-No. 23 Georgia Tech and then-No. 21 Clemson.
“They’re the consensus number one-ranked team in the country. We won’t have any trouble being fired up,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said after Wednesday’s win against N.C. Central. “The question for us is we’ve got to manage that adrenaline. We can’t come into the ballgame too fired up. We’ve got to relax.”
Miami (27-4, 11-2 in the ACC) has one of the most formidable weekend rotations in the country, trotting out senior Thomas Woodrey, sophomore Michael Mediavilla and junior Danny Garcia, who have led the Hurricanes to recent sweeps against then-No. 9 North Carolina and the then-No. 17 Tigers. Woodrey is the weakest link of the trio—sporting a 3-2 record and a 4.89 ERA—but Mediavilla and Garcia have combined to go 11-2 and both own ERAs better than 2.60.
Junior Bryan Garcia is tied for third in the nation with 10 saves when the game gets to the bullpen for a Hurricane team that surrenders just 3.6 runs per game.
All three Miami starters are southpaws, which could benefit the Blue Devils (19-15, 6-9). Junior Cris Perez, sophomore Jack Labosky and freshman Jimmy Herron have combined for 41 of Duke’s 83 extra-base hits this season, and all three bat from the right side of the plate, an advantage against left-handed pitchers.
Herron is riding an eight-game hitting streak into the weekend, with six doubles during the stretch. Getting the outfielder on base has been crucial to the success of the Blue Devil offense, as the Harleysville, Pa., native has scored a run in seven of those eight contests. Herron is also the team's biggest threat on the basepaths with 13 stolen bases on the season, including three in Duke's midweek wins against Davidson and N.C. Central.
“The bats have been alive now for a couple weeks—kind of seems like we figured it out, so hopefully we’re turning the corner,” redshirt sophomore reliever James Ziemba said after Wednesday’s game. “This [series] would be big for RPI and everything, so [we’re] just trying to keep the momentum going."
Duke started its impressive run with strong hitting sparked by the trio of Perez, Labosky and Herron, but has maintained its momentum with impressive pitching. The Blue Devils have allowed four or fewer runs in each of their last seven games behind consistent outings from starters and several shutdown performances by the bullpen.
Junior Bailey Clark will start Friday’s game opposite Woodrey, and the Blue Devils will split Saturday’s contest between graduate students Trent Swart and Kellen Urbon as Swart eases back into game action after a bout of elbow irritation. Pollard will then hand the ball to graduate student Brian McAfee Sunday.
McAfee has tallied two complete game victories this year—including his last start April 10 against the Tigers, when he allowed just a lone unearned run—and boasts a 5-2 record with a 3.38 ERA. He has been consistent all year, and Clark has recently stepped up to help bookend weekends with effective starts. The 6-foot-5 right-hander had a shaky first half of the season, but held the high-powered Georgia Tech and Clemson offenses to two and three runs, respectively.
“We know we can hang with the big dogs. I think it’s just sticking with what we know,” Ziemba said. “Bailey is going to give us a good start on Friday night—we know that. [We’re] just backing him up however we can.”
Clark did not make it through the sixth inning in either of his last two outings, but Duke’s bullpen has been nearly flawless for the last few weeks. Labosky has allowed just one run in his last 12 appearances in an eighth-inning setup role, and sophomore closer Mitch Stallings has not surrendered an earned run in his last eight outings, though he did blow a save against the Tigers after a two-out error extended the game.
Ziemba, Kevin Lewallyn and Nick Hendrix have also answered the call, pitching out of jams in the middle innings.
The Blue Devils’ recent success on the mound will be hard to maintain against the Hurricanes, who bat .299 as a team. Junior catcher Zack Collins is tied for first in the nation with a .588 on-base percentage, and his seven home runs lead the team. Sophomore center fielder Carl Chester is also a formidable threat from the leadoff spot, hitting .393 with a team-high 46 hits and seven stolen bases.
Although Duke has put things together in recent weeks, it still sits in 11th place in the ACC, with the top 10 teams qualifying for May’s conference tournament at the DBAP. The Blue Devils are halfway through their conference schedule, and a win or two against the nation’s top-ranked team would be critical for them to stay in the mix to play in the postseason on their home field.
“We’ve got to learn from some of the mistakes we made early in the conference schedule,” Pollard said. “We’ve settled in and done a good job of living in the moment and playing good baseball, and that’s what we’ll do this weekend too, understanding that we can go into this series very loose.”
David Rieder contributed reporting.
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