A battle for the top spot in the ACC will take place this weekend between No. 2 N.C. State and No. 8 Duke at Jack Coombs Field.
The Blue Devils will host the Wolfpack for three games Friday through Sunday to wrap up a gauntlet of six straight contests against top-15 opponents, looking to bounce back from a disappointing 9-2 loss Tuesday night to No. 11 East Carolina. The first pitch Friday will be at 6 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday's games are set to start at 1.
Perhaps more disappointing than the outcome of Tuesday's game was the manner in which Duke lost the game—numerous errors and baserunning blunders led to the team’s ultimate defeat. These were uncharacteristic of the Blue Devils, as head coach Chris Pollard and his squad pride themselves on their strong defense and discipline.
“There were definitely things that happened in the course of the ballgame on Tuesday that we spent time addressing in practice,” Pollard said. “There are things we can do better, but at this point of the year, we don’t spend a lot of time addressing physical mistakes, because they happen, although we haven’t had many. But I thought there were areas of the game that we could have controlled better than we did.”
Although Duke (30-8, 12-5 in the ACC) seems poised to bounce back from a singular disappointing performance and has not lost back-to-back games all year, the Wolfpack will certainly make matters difficult. N.C. State (29-7, 13-5) has not lost a series in 2018 and is coming off of a dominant 8-3 victory against rival No. 19 North Carolina.
The Wolfpack have preyed on opposing pitchers this season. Their .893 team OPS is downright gaudy—to put it in perspective, Duke’s formidable offense has tallied a .778 OPS, and the Blue Devils’ pitching staff has yielded a .659 OPS. Although Doak Field, N.C. State’s home stadium, is certainly a hitters’ park, the team's offensive numbers are nothing to sneeze at.
The Wolfpack's high-octane offense has been powered by, well, power. Brett Kinneman, Will Wilson, and Evan Edwards all have double-digit home run totals, and the trio all are among the top 10 in slugging percentage in the ACC. The Wolfpack’s 56 home runs lead the conference, and despite his lesser power numbers, leadoff hitter Jimmy McLain is first in the ACC in hits, setting the table nicely for his more potent teammates.
“You have to play your game. If you start pitching guys differently based on power numbers or on the ballpark, you can get yourself in trouble,” Pollard said. “You have to go out and play to your strengths, and that’s something we’ll try to continue to do.”
Duke is in the midst of certainly the most difficult part of its regular season. The Blue Devils swept then-No. 9 Florida State in a rain-shortened series last weekend before the loss to the Pirates earlier this week. This stretch of opponents has been atypical compared to Duke’s strength of schedule, which ranks just 134th nationally.
Perhaps the Blue Devils will be able to silence their detractors and prove that their record and ranking are not merely a product of feasting on lesser opponents—they stand at an impressive 17-0 mark against opponents outside of the top 100 in RPI.
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