Throughout this season, Duke head coach Chris Pollard has wanted his squad to focus on one game at a time and not look ahead.
But with spots in the ACC and NCAA tournament on the line as the regular season comes to an end, the Blue Devils know exactly what is in front of them as they continue a busy seven-game week.
After sweeping Gardner-Webb in a doubleheader Sunday, Duke will continue its quest to play in the postseason when it faces Longwood Tuesday and Norfolk State Wednesday, with both games set to start at 11:40 a.m. at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. With a week-long break for finals behind them, the pair of midweek contests will provide the Blue Devils with an opportunity to shake off any remaining rust before they face No. 7 Florida State in a three-game weekend series.
“It’ll be an opportunity to get a lot of guys reps, and we’ll get ourselves fine-tuned and ready to go into the weekend against Florida State,” Pollard said after the Blue Devils defeated Gardner-Webb 4-1 and 13-4.
Duke (27-20) will turn to Bailey Clark on the mound Tuesday against the Lancers. Clark—who sports a 5.92 ERA—fell out of the Blue Devils’ weekend rotation after surrendering four runs against then-No. 1 Miami April 15 and has entered in relief in his last four appearances.
Pollard said that he would decide who to start against Norfolk State once he sees how Duke fares against Longwood. But, as they have done in their last six midweek games, the Blue Devils will likely rely on short outings from a string of relievers.
Duke showed little rust from its week off against the Runnin’ Bulldogs Sunday. In the first game, the Blue Devils rode the arm of Cornell transfer Brian McAfee, who struck out seven, surrendered just one run and recorded his third complete game of the season. Duke’s offense provided McAfee with ample run support, scoring all four of its runs in the third inning.
The Blue Devil hitters picked up where they left off in the second game against Gardner-Webb. After falling behind 2-1 in the sixth frame, Duke exploded for a combined 12 runs in the seventh and eighth innings, registering 11 of their 17 hits during that span.
Sophomore left fielder Peter Zyla led the way for the Blue Devils, combining to go 4-for-7 in both games, and sparked Duke’s rally in the second meeting with a three-run triple in the seventh inning. Jimmy Herron—who is second among Blue Devils with a .319 batting average—added four hits in six at-bats.
“The biggest thing we can take away [from those two games] are the repetitions,” Pollard said. “When you have the week off for exams, the one thing you worry about is rust because you’re not getting a lot of live reps. So to be able to get those…quality plate appearances, I think will help us offensively heading into this week.”
Longwood (28-20), which currently sits in fourth place in the Big South standings, has won five of its last seven contests and can also reach the NCAA tournament if it wins its conference tournament. With just three regular starters slugging better than .360, the Lancers have been aggressive on the basepaths, stealing 66 bases in 87 attempts.
Defensively, although their pitching staff has combined for a respectable 4.31 ERA, the Lancers’ infield defense has been unreliable, committing 65 errors—19 more than the Blue Devils.
Like Longwood, Norfolk State (27-18) has not threatened opponents with its power hitting—the Spartans have nobody with more than five home runs on the season. Rather, the Spartans have relied on small-ball and 81 stolen bases and have looked to their hurlers to hold opponents to 2.8 runs per contest in the team’s last 16 games.
Longwood and Norfolk State have yet to announce who they will start against the Blue Devils.
“They both have got quality clubs. There are similarities between the two clubs,” Pollard said. “Both of them have pitched well, but they don’t have particularly deep staffs. And both of them have some susceptibilities on defense that we’re going to try to exploit and take advantage of."
The contests against Longwood and Norfolk State mark Duke’s final midweek games of its 2016 campaign. The Blue Devils will close out their regular season with three-game series against the Seminoles this weekend and Pittsburgh beginning May 19.
Jack Dolgin contributed reporting.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.