Sometimes it takes a little luck to keep a season alive, and the Blue Devils certainly enjoyed more than their fair share of it Tuesday night.
Junior Michael Smiciklas hit a go-ahead check-swing double that trickled down the left-field line in the eighth inning, as No. 9 seed Duke rallied to beat fifth-seeded Clemson 6-3 at Louisville Slugger Field in Louisville, Ky. The Blue Devils also benefitted from a pair of dropped fly balls in the outfield to start the ACC tournament 1-0 in pool play and stay in contention to advance out of Pool D to Saturday's semifinals.
"We were fortunate in some ways. We had some soft contact that fell in and found holes, and that’s baseball," Duke head coach Chris Pollard said at his postgame press conference. "We’ll take it. We beat a really good baseball team tonight."
After the Tigers (39-18) seized an early 3-1 lead, they gifted Duke a run with two outs when Chris Proctor's fly ball glanced off Reed Rohlman's glove after the right fielder misjudged it and tried to catch the ball under-handed.
The Blue Devils (29-27) tied the contest two innings later on back-to-back two-out singles by Proctor and leadoff man Jimmy Herron, with Herron's sharp grounder rolling past a diving Grayson Byrd at third base to score Max Miller.
"We’ve really just been trying to play loose. I think that’s something that’s helped us. Timely hitting wins games, and that’s what we do," Herron said at the press conference. "We had a couple big two-out hits. Proctor had a big at-bat there against [Alex] Eubanks, and then he left me a decent fastball."
Graduate student Nick Hendrix worked a quick one-two-three inning in the bottom of the seventh, and Duke's offense picked up where it left off in the eighth. Sophomore Griffin Conine—the Blue Devils' lone All-ACC selection who was mired in a 1-for-21 slump prior to the at-bat—led off with a single to left field and advanced to second on a wild pitch with one out.
Sophomore Kennie Taylor then blooped a fly to shallow right field close to the foul line that popped out of second baseman Jordan Greene's glove as he backpedaled to catch the ball. Conine advanced to third on the error and scored on Smiciklas' fortuitous double two pitches later.
Graduate student Jalen Phillips lined a two-out single to score Taylor and Smiciklas and punctuate the big inning, but Hendrix did not need the insurance.
The Arlington, Texas, native was the only pitcher Pollard used in relief of Mitch Stallings, tossing 3 1/3 hitless innings with the help of a trio of impressive plays by second baseman Miller in the eighth and ninth frames. Hendrix has not given up a run and allowed just one hit in his last 10 appearances, spanning 15 1/3 innings of work.
"A couple of those out of the hands, it was like, ‘Oh man, I wish I could have that one back,’" Hendrix said. "Then I see Max and Jack [Labosky] diving across the infield... it makes it a lot easier to pitch and gives you a lot more confidence when you’ve got guys like that behind you."
Herron led off the game with his first of three singles and scored to help Duke strike first against Clemson starter Charlie Barnes, but the Tigers pounced on the lead with solo home runs by Chase Pinder, Andrew Cox and Logan Davidson in the first, fourth and fifth innings, respectively.
The long ball has been Stallings' Achilles heel for most of the year, and although the junior ace has made an effective transition from the closer role last year to become the Blue Devils' ace, he has still served up 10 home runs.
But Clemson was never able to string hits together to have a big inning, going 0-for-12 with runners on base.
"Solo home runs don’t beat you. We’re going to pitch to contact," Pollard said. "Mitch Stallings, after giving up the solo home run in the first inning, didn’t shy away from contact. He kept going at guys, and that’s what we do."
The winner of Thursday morning's matchup between Duke and No. 4 seed Virginia will now advance out of Pool D to the semifinals, regardless of what happens in the Cavaliers' game with the Tigers Friday. The Blue Devils entered the week knowing they need to go 4-0 to win the championship in order to earn an NCAA tournament berth, and Tuesday's upset now puts them a quarter of the way there.
"if we don’t win, we’re playing for pride on Thursday, and we knew that. We didn't talk about it," Pollard said. "We didn’t feel like we had to talk about it. We’ve got smart kids. They’re a lot smarter than I am."
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