A day after Duke clinched a spot in the ACC tournament, its regular season ended with a cancellation.
The Blue Devils’ season finale at Pittsburgh Saturday at Charles L. Cost Field was called after four innings due to rain with the score 1-1. The abandoned meeting followed Duke’s 2-1 and 7-5 wins against the Panthers Thursday and Friday, respectively, which guaranteed that the Blue Devils would finish in the top 10 of the ACC and qualify for the conference tournament.
Other weekend results gave Duke the No. 7 seed, which means the Blue Devils will have a play-in game to the tournament's pool play Tuesday at 11 a.m. against Wake Forest at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
“We played well,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said of Saturday's game. “It was difficult conditions to play in. It was basically raining from the very beginning of the game…. We initially went into a rain delay. But it was clear that the rain was going to be around for many hours.”
Duke (33-21, 14-15 in the ACC) scored first with two singles and a double in the top of the second inning. Junior designated hitter Cris Perez led off the frame with a double to left-center field.
After sophomore Peter Zyla grounded out, his classmate Evan Dougherty brought Perez home with a single up the middle. Although freshman shortstop Zack Kone singled to continue the rally, the inning ended when sophomore second baseman Max Miller and freshman left fielder Jimmy Herron flied out.
An inning later, the Panthers (25-26, 10-18) responded to tie the game. After Duke starter Brian McAfee retired six of Pittsburgh’s first seven batters during the first two frames, the Cornell transfer walked Yaya Chentouf and surrendered a single to Frank Maldonado before both runners advanced on a wild pitch. Chentouf crossed the plate when Jacob Wright grounded out to Kone.
“[Maldonado’s single] amounted to a swinging bunt,” Pollard said. “[It was] a little dribbler that was kind of placed like you would place a drag bunt. We had no play on it.”
In the fourth and final inning before play was suspended, Pittsburgh mounted another threat, placing a runner on second with one out. But McAfee—who finished with three strikeouts—quickly escaped the jam by fanning Caleb Parry and forcing Matt Johnson to ground out.
The Blue Devils—who are No. 23 in the RPI rankings—will now turn their attention to the postseason. After the ACC tournament, Duke is expected to earn a bid to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1961.
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