A day after the Blue Devils prevailed in a slugfest against Longwood, they knocked off Norfolk State Wednesday by keeping the bats on their shoulders.
A three-run homer by Cris Perez was the spark in an 11-5 Duke win against the Lancers Tuesday at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, but the Blue Devil offense was much quieter in a 4-3 win in 10 innings against the Spartans at Jack Coombs Field. The game-winning run crossed the plate in the bottom of the 10th inning on a bases-loaded walk to sophomore Jack Labosky, who worked the count full with one out before ball four was high.
Sophomore Evan Dougherty led off the 10th inning with a single, stole second base and reached third on a single by freshman Jimmy Herron before pinch-hitter Griffin Conine walked on five pitches to bring Labosky to the plate with one out.
With just two ACC series remaining on its schedule, Duke finished the year with eight straight wins in midweek games as it fights to stay in consideration for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
“You’ve got to win them all in different ways. That was a unique ballgame,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. “It’s a huge ballgame, and I’m proud of our guys for being tough enough to gut it out.”
After both teams put a run on the scoreboard in the early going Wednesday, the score stayed at 1-1 from the top of the second inning until the bottom of the eighth. Kevin Lewallyn, Nick Hendrix and Labosky combined to toss six shutout innings for the Blue Devils (29-20) as no Spartan advanced past first base against them. Duke’s pitching staff matched its season-high with 14 strikeouts Wednesday.
But the Blue Devils had even less success offensively than Norfolk State (27-19) for that middle stretch of the game, with Spartan starter Michael Parmentier retiring the last 16 batters he faced before exiting after the seventh frame.
“He was giving us fits for a while. He located three pitches, and if you do that, you can usually be successful,” said Herron, who recorded three of Duke’s seven hits. “We were able to keep grinding through, and eventually we were able to get to the next guy.”
The next guy was sophomore right-hander Alex Mauricio, who immediately ran into trouble in the eighth inning when Dougherty led off with a single up the middle for the Blue Devils’ first hit since a first-inning RBI single by Labosky. Max Miller bunted Dougherty to second, setting the table for the top of the order.
Herron hit a sharp ground ball down the line that hit third base and hopped into left field, scoring Dougherty while Herron sprinted into second base with a double. The Harleysville, Pa., native then stole third base and trotted home when Norfolk State catcher Chris Ford’s throw bounced past the third baseman and into left field.
“[Hitting coach Jason] Stein really always preaches to apply the pressure on the bases,” Herron said. “I saw a couple windows where I could take it, and I took advantage.”
Herron’s insurance run to make it 3-1 proved critical when sophomore closer Mitch Stallings could not complete the save in the ninth, as the Spartans staged a two-out rally after he retired the first two batters of the inning.
Redshirt senior Justin Lee started off the threat with a single, and the tying run reached base when Stallings hit Denathan Dukes with a 1-2 pitch. Both runners moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch before Mauricio found redemption for his struggles on the mound with a two-strike double to tie the game.
“To be down to your last strike about 10 different times before the inning was over and then to find a way to tie the ballgame—you can see why they’re the class of their league,” Pollard said.
Stallings induced a groundout by Brian Beard to end the inning and keep the game tied and worked out of another threat in the 10th inning after Duke went down in order in the bottom of the ninth. Angel Rosario singled and advanced to second with two outs on a wild pitch, but Chase Anderson flied out to left field to strand another Norfolk State runner in scoring position.
“It’s not easy after you give up that hit to then get off the field two different times with the go-ahead run at second base,” Pollard said. “That’s a credit to [Stallings] being in the moment and not giving into the moment.”
Duke did not have as much trouble against the Lancers (28-21) Tuesday, exploding for seven runs in the first three innings to seize an early lead. The Blue Devils scored four runs in the bottom of the second inning at the hitter-friendly DBAP, and after Longwood responded with three runs in the third, Perez gave Duke another four-run cushion with his homer over the towering Blue Monster in left field in the bottom half of the frame.
The Lancers scored two runs in the fourth to cut into the deficit again, but did not score the rest of the way. Sophomore reliever Ryan Day threw three shutout innings from the mound to help Duke pull away—the Blue Devils manufactured a run in the fifth frame without recording a hit and added three runs in the seventh to break the game open.
Duke returns to the field Friday night at the DBAP to open a critical ACC series against No. 7 Florida State.
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