Although they have not made the NCAA tournament in more than 50 years, the Blue Devils played like a team that has been on the brink of earning a bid before and came up with a statement win Friday night.
Home runs by sophomores Michael Smiciklas and Jack Labosky powered Duke to a 5-4 win against No. 7 Florida State at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park to extend the Blue Devils' winning streak to six games. All five Duke runs came in the first three innings, and Labosky and sophomore closer Mitch Stallings shut the Seminoles down from the mound in the last two frames to stave off a rally and preserve the victory.
The Blue Devils entered the weekend at No. 35 in the RPI rankings—which help determine at-large selections to the NCAA tournament—and their 10th win of the year against a ranked opponent will likely help the team move up even more.
“We’re just believing. We know we can do it every single year,” Smiciklas said. “[Head] coach [Chris] Pollard always preaches the process and just doing what we need to do, and finally we’re starting to prove to people that we deserve to get in a regional… hopefully this year is the year.”
Duke (30-20, 11-14 in the ACC) struck first with two runs in the bottom of the second inning when Smiciklas’ first career home run stayed fair down the right-field line and landed several rows into the outfield bleachers after sophomore Justin Bellinger led off with a single. Smiciklas entered the night with just eight career extra-base hits, doing most of his damage on line drives to the outfield for singles.
“He’s shown that type of power in batting practice, so we’ve kind of been waiting for it to show up in a ballgame,” Pollard said. “He picked a good time for it to show up today.”
The Blue Devils’ lead did not last long, though, with Florida State (32-16, 14-7) responding immediately in the top half of the third inning. Duke starter Kellen Urbon surrendered four consecutive hits—a double and three singles—with one out, allowing two runs, but the graduate student settled down and induced two outs to strand two runners on base and escape the inning with the score still tied.
Urbon held the Seminole offense at bay for the next several frames, conceding just three baserunners in the fourth through sixth innings, and improved to 7-1 on the year with the win.
“Kellen’s always going to do great for us,” Smiciklas said. “He’s Mr. Consistent.”
Sophomore Max Miller started off another big inning for the Blue Devils with a leadoff single in the bottom of the third, and freshman leadoff hitter Jimmy Herron plated him with a double off the Blue Monster in left field to put Duke back in front.
After freshman catcher Chris Proctor grounded out for the first out of the frame, Labosky crushed a 3-2 pitch over the towering left-field wall, just missing the metal bull overlooking the field next to the foul pole.
“I was just looking to put a good swing on a ball,” Labosky said. “I got a slider that was up in the zone and put a good swing on it.”
The contest seemed set to turn into a slugfest when the Blue Devils entered the fourth inning with a 5-2 lead, but Duke would not need any more offense to come away with the win.
The Blue Devils could have added a few insurance runs in the fourth, staging a two-out rally with two singles and a hit batter, but Proctor grounded out with the bases loaded to end the threat. Duke only managed one baserunner the rest of the way.
Florida State got back into the game in the seventh inning, finally getting to Urbon again with a triple by Ben DeLuzio and an RBI single by leadoff man Taylor Walls to trim the deficit to 5-3. Walls was 4-for-5 at the plate to lead the Seminoles and improve his batting average to .386.
Pollard inserted Labosky with one out and Walls at first base, but a John Sansone double drove in another run before Labosky hit Jackson Lueck in the back of the leg to put two runners on base in a one-run game. But the 6-foot-3 right-hander retired cleanup hitter Cal Raleigh and designated hitter Quincy Nieporte on flyouts to right field to keep the Blue Devils in front.
Labosky registered two strikeouts in a perfect eighth inning to set Stallings up for his eighth save.
“[Labosky] was really good in all three phases,” Pollard said. “He played a tremendous game at third base, the home run, the job he did on the mound—he showed off why he’s one of the best players in the ACC.”
Graduate student Trent Swart will take the mound Saturday at 1 p.m. for Duke, which can clinch the series with another win.
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