RALEIGH—Duke entered Saturday night's game averaging less than one error per game, but at a crucial time the Blue Devils' infield defense faltered, leading to a blowout loss.
Duke committed three errors—two of which came fielding bunts in the fifth inning—and No. 12 N.C. State exploded for seven runs in that frame to rout the Blue Devils 12-2 Saturday night at Doak Field at Dail Park. With the win, N.C. State clinched the three-game weekend series after a 3-2 victory Friday night.
Duke starter Trent Swart suffered his second loss of the season, surrendering six runs—three of which were unearned.
“Credit N.C. State. They did a good job of taking advantage of the mistakes,” Blue Devil head coach Chris Pollard said. “But if we perform our regular bunt-defense, there’s no way that inning should become a seven-run inning.”
Duke’s fifth inning troubles began when N.C. State left fielder Brett Kinneman led off with a single to center field and advanced to second because Swart could not field a bunt by Andrew Knizner. After Blue Devil third baseman Jack Labosky committed an error while trying to bare-hand a bunt by Evan Mendoza, Wolfpack second baseman Stephen Pitarra smacked a two-RBI double to left field.
“On the [bunt] that Trent fielded, he went down to get it and just didn’t get a grip,” Pollard said. “In Jack’s case, that’s a ball that we shouldn’t bare-hand. That’s a ball that we should glove and then make the throw.”
The Blue Devils (24-20, 9-14 in the ACC) had little time to regain their footing before the Wolfpack’s next batter, centerfielder Josh McLain, hit an infield single to drive in another run. Duke second baseman Max Miller made a diving stop to field McLain’s grounder, but Miller’s throw to first was not in time to get the runner out.
Soon after Pollard replaced Swart with senior southpaw Nick Hendrix, right fielder Brock Deatherage lined an RBI single to left field. After first baseman Preston Palmeiro hit a two-RBI single, the Wolfpack’s final run of the inning came off Duke right-hander Bailey Clark as Palmeiro scored off a Kinneman double down the right field line.
Despite Duke’s defensive struggles in the fifth inning, the game initially began as a pitching duel. Swart started off strong, sitting down six of the Wolfpack’s first seven batters.
But his first mistake came in the bottom of the third inning when Mendoza—now on a 16-game hitting streak—blasted a pitch over the left-field wall with one out to give N.C. State its first run of the game.
The Blue Devils had a chance to immediately respond in the top of the fourth inning when sophomore left fielder Michael Smiciklas led off with a single up the middle. After Wolfpack pitcher Brian Brown hit Labosky, first baseman Justin Bellinger singled through the right side to load the bases. But the inning quickly came to end when Kone struck out swinging and freshman catcher Chris Proctor grounded into a 4-6-3 double play.
A day after going 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, Duke struggled again at the plate Saturday, finishing just 2-for-11.
“That was big. Because it’s a 1-0 ballgame at that point,” Pollard said. “We had an opportunity with the bases loaded and nobody out after they hit the solo home run to have an answer and potentially a big inning. And to come off the field with nothing there, that hurt. Because that really allowed them to capture some momentum.”
One inning later, the Blue Devils once again failed to capitalize on a scoring opportunity. Junior designated hitter Cris Perez led off with a single and moved to second base as sophomore right fielder Peter Zyla grounded out to third base. But Duke stranded Perez when Pitarra corralled a Miller popup then successfully fielded a grounder by center fielder Jimmy Herron, who saw his 17-game streak of reaching base safely come to an end Saturday night.
After its fifth inning onslaught, N.C. State (31-11, 12-6) added another run to its lead in the sixth. Mendoza led off with a walk before Pitarra reached on a fielder’s choice, with both runners then advancing on a wild pitch by Clark. A groundout by Deatherage allowed Mendoza to score later in the inning.
In the next two innings, the Blue Devils’ offense continued to struggle at the plate to deliver hits. All three batters who came to the plate in the sixth struck out and Brown sat down Duke’s next three hitters in the seventh.
Brown allowed just three hits in seven innings of work and struck out eight Blue Devils to earn the win Saturday.
“We’ve got to do a better job,” Pollard said. “Some guys have got to grow up. Just because we have a bad inning, we can’t allow ourselves to give away at-bats and we did that at times over the next few innings. That’s just maturity. “
After the Wolfpack added three more runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, Duke scored its two runs in the ninth frame when sophomore Daniel Calabretta was hit by N.C. State reliever Christian Demby and crossed the plate off a double by Jalen Phillips, who then scored after a Perez sacrifice fly.
Graduate transfer Brian McAfee will take the mound for the Blue Devils to close out the series against the Wolfpack Sunday at 1 p.m.
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