WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.—Even an hour-long rain delay couldn’t put a damper on this heavyweight bout.
In an extremely anticipated matchup in Winston-Salem, N.C., No. 12 Duke took down No. 1 Wake Forest 8-5 in a game that was expected to be a pitcher’s duel, but evolved into a slugfest that cemented the Blue Devils’ status as a contender for both the ACC and the College World Series while giving them their first win against a No. 1 team since 2016.
“This was a big time college baseball atmosphere on a Friday night,” said head coach Chris Pollard. “Our guys had a lot of fun with it and that was a really good college baseball game between two good teams.”
Jonathan Santucci took the mound for the Blue Devils (12-1, 1-0 in the ACC) in his fourth start of the year. The Leominster, Mass., native had been utterly dominant coming into this primetime test against a stacked Demon Deacon lineup, as he sported a 0.00 ERA and 31 strikeouts coming into his biggest test of the year so far.
Santucci’s counterpart was Josh Hartle, who had been as good as advertised for the Demon Deacons (11-2, 0-1) up to this point in the season, as the projected first-round pick in the upcoming MLB Draft came in sporting an ERA just above two.
The Blue Devils cashed in early against Hartle, as third-baseman Ben Miller continued his red-hot start to the campaign in the top of the first inning, sneaking a double down the right-field line to set up the heart of Duke’s order with runners in scoring position. An Alex Stone fielder’s choice was able to move the Penn transfer over to third but left the visitors with two outs. In a stroke of luck, the usually pinpoint Hartle let one slip away for a wild pitch, putting Pollard’s squad up a run before Wake Forest could even take an at-bat.
The good times did not stop there for the Blue Devils, as back-to-back doubles from Logan Bravo and AJ Gracia pushed across another tally and prompted a mound visit out to Hartle to try and settle the ace down. This strategy eventually paid off for the junior, as he sat down Macon Winslow via a flyout to end the inning. However, the damage had already been done, as the King, N.C., native went back to the dugout with 32 pitches and Santucci came out to the mound with an early 2-0 cushion.
This lead proved to be needed for Duke, as just like Hartle, the Blue Devil ace was tagged early. A leadoff double from Marek Houston put the Demon Deacons in business, and a two-out double from Seaver King followed by a single from Jake Reinisch knotted this game back up at two apiece before Santucci escaped from the inning with a strikeout.
The Bravo-Gracia duo struck gold again in the top of the third, as the former legged out a triple on a ball that barely snuck over a leaping right fielder and the latter bounced a single up the middle that found its way into center and put the Blue Devils up one. Wallace Clark then delivered at the bottom of the order for the visitors, as the Oklahoma transfer found a hole in the left side of the infield to keep the train moving and extend the lead back to two.
“Really impressive just how they've grown as a group. It's a tremendous credit to coach Tyler and the job he's doing with these guys, but I've been really, really proud of our offense through 13 games,” Pollard said.
Wake Forest was not ready to go down without a fight, as the home team torched Santucci during a major response in the bottom of the third, as the junior left-hander surrendered two walks and then gave up a towering homer to left field from King to give the Demon Deacons their first lead at 5-4. Two more walks spelled the end of Santucci’s uninspiring outing, as he was replaced by Owen Proksch with two outs in the inning, and the sophomore stopped the bleeding with a strikeout.
The punches kept coming from both sides, as Bravo and Gracia did their job yet again in the fourth. Bravo worked a full-count walk with two outs, and Gracia cleared the bases a few pitches later, hitting the scoreboard in right-center to bring the score to 6-5 in favor of Duke. That blast chased Hartle out of the contest after 4.2 innings, depriving countless MLB scouts of an extended look at two potential first-round picks in him and Santucci. In the bottom half, Proksch was excellent against the top of the Wake Forest order, retiring the first three hitters all by groundout.
Zac Morris made his mark in the top half of the fifth, crushing a bomb with two outs that sailed over the berm in left field and gave the Blue Devils a 7-5 lead. Miller continued his torrid hitting streak with a double in the next at-bat, but Stone could not deliver, as the captain flew out to first base to end the rally.
Gracia had three home runs in the opening weekend against George Mason, but the Monroe, N.J., native may have reached new heights in this one, as the sixth inning saw him tank a baseball that disappeared into the night sky and ended up well past the confines of David F. Couch Ballpark to put Duke up 8-5 and gave the freshman his fifth RBI of the contest.
“I'd be interested to see what the numbers are. It’s definitely one of the better ones I’ve gotten,” Gracia said about the second home run of the night.
After two nice scoreless innings from Gabriel Nard, Pollard turned to his most trusted weapon out of the bullpen, as Charlie Beilenson entered the game looking for a nine-out save. After inheriting a runner from Nard, the Los Angeles native got into some early trouble, as the first two batters he saw reached base to load the bags for the Demon Deacons with no outs. From there, the closer did what he does best, sitting down the next three hitters to end the inning with no damage.
“That was not what I was looking for, I just tried to work back from there. Not ideal, but there's only one way you can respond,” Beilenson said.
Beilenson handled business once again in the eighth, working through the top of the lineup with relative ease capped off with a strikeout of superstar first baseman Nick Kurtz to end the frame. The former Brown pitcher came out again for the ninth and shut the door emphatically, picking up his sixth save of the year.
The path will not get any easier from here, as Duke will face another projected first-rounder in Chase Burns tomorrow as it looks to win the series.
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