Duke tallied two midweek losses, falling to both Campbell and Liberty by a combined score of 21-10. The Blue Devils (4-5) ended Tuesday’s road game with a 9-6 loss despite mounting a back-half surge against the Fighting Camels. When they returned home to face the Flames Wednesday, defensive inconsistencies paved the way to a 12-4 defeat.
Tuesday at Campbell
Wearing “Nobodies” across their chest to honor their team moniker — “just a bunch of nobodies from nowhere” — the Fighting Camels reintroduced themselves to Duke Tuesday evening.
Campbell scored in each of the first four innings, highlighted by a methodical 4-run second inning to take a commanding lead. The Blue Devils threatened in the late frames but failed to cash in the big hit that would bring them within striking distance, ultimately falling 9-6 for their first midweek loss of the season.
A towering shot for the Fighting Camels off the bat of second baseman Jonah Oster opened the scoring, but Duke manufactured a run in the top of the second inning to bring it back level. It was game on from there.
After getting a quick out to start the home half, junior left-hander Andrew Healy struggled. Three hits and two free bases gave Campbell a two-run lead, forcing the Blue Devils to turn to the bullpen and 6-foot-5 righty Ryan Calvert with the bases loaded. The UNC Wilmington transfer surrendered another two-run single but limited the damage there, escaping the inning with a 5-1 deficit.
Campbell added a tally in each of the following two innings, setting the stage for the Blue Devils to begin their comeback mission with a six-run disadvantage. Duke had managed to muster just one hit against starting pitcher Mason Smith outside of the second inning, but the tide started to turn in the sixth.
Two straight hits to start the frame doubled the Blue Devils’ run total. A throwing error two batters later brought Ben Miller home to make it 7-3. Back-to-back walks put a runner on each base. With momentum building and just one out, Duke looked primed to get back in the contest. However, a shallow fly-out from junior Tyler Albright and a three-pitch strikeout from pinch hitter Sam Harris ended the threat quietly. This would become a theme.
More free bases in the bottom of the sixth allowed the Fighting Camels to push the lead back to six, giving the Blue Devils nine outs to claw back.
It was more of the same, though. Duke scored three in the seventh to make it 9-6, but surrendered an opportunity to pull even closer with the bases loaded and one out. In the eighth, runners on the corners brought preseason All-American AJ Gracia to the plate as the tying run. Another backwards K pushed the game to the final frame.
In a last gasp effort, the Blue Devils once again found themselves in a bases-loaded situation with only one out. With the go-ahead run at the plate, graduate transfer Nick DiPietrantonio and sophomore catcher Macon Winslow both swung through pitches out of the zone, striking out and giving Campbell the statement victory.
As Duke creeps closer to conference play, going 3-for-16 with runners in scoring position won’t cut it. Despite a respectable 13-hit performance against the Fighting Camels, the Blue Devils must show signs of clutch hitting moving forward to compete in the loaded conference.
Wednesday vs Liberty
Durham’s squad returned home Wednesday, but it was Liberty who spent all afternoon homering. After sending five balls over the fence of Jack Coombs Field, the Flames capitalized on Duke’s defensive struggles to deliver a 12-4 defeat.
“I sound like a broken record, but we allow a defensive miscue to turn into big innings,” head coach Chris Pollard said. “We’ve just got to be better at making routine plays that we practice.”
The Blue Devils kept themselves in contention to start, combatting Liberty’s first two bullets with an RBI from Macon Winslow and four punchouts from Henry Zatkowski. Things slipped from there. Duke’s freshman southpaw let two runners through on base, and the Flames hit another home run to put themselves up 5-1 with no outs in the third inning.
Gabe Nard took over on Duke’s mound, but he couldn’t shut down Liberty’s hot streak. The Flames added another dinger on just the second at-bat after the switch. Though Ben Miller launched a home run out to left field to bandage the bleeding, the Blue Devils trailed 6-2 heading into the fourth.
That distance only grew in the following innings. With Liberty runners soon eyeing home plate from second and third base, a single just inside the left-field foul line was all it took for the Flames to bump their score up by two. And though a pair of quick outs made it look as if Duke would hold the visitors scoreless in the sixth, junior Nick Barone recorded another home run for two RBIs. The Flames tacked on an additional run for a comfortable 11-2 lead.
“That’s a different ball game if you keep those runs off the board,” Pollard said. “Those are the types of mistakes we’ve gotta clean up. We can’t, once a mistake like that happens, have it turn into a three- or four-run inning.”
In search of defensive remedies, Duke turned to its bullpen throughout the game. The Blue Devils ultimately put six pitchers on the mound, but their middle four relievers struggled with an average 4.95 ERA. Junior Roman DiGiacomo had the best night with three strikeouts and no hits in his closing 1.2 innings.
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“It’s two really good outings in a row for Roman,” Pollard said, referencing DiGiacomo’s shutout inning against Cornell Saturday. “We need another right-handed option out of the pen, and so that’s two good outings in a row that he can build off of and hopefully grow into that option for us.”
The Blue Devils did manage to shrink their deficit before ending the game, with Jake Hyde arcing a home run over the right-field fence to tally two RBIs in the seventh inning. Liberty’s 12th run sealed the game when Andrew Yu’s double yielded no scoring in the ninth.
Throughout the game, Duke not only struggled to capitalize on runners in scoring position — it struggled to put them there. The Blue Devils’ measly 6-for-32 hitting on the night included just 1-for-6 in the category and 2-for-13 with runners on base. The Flames made notably quick work of the home team, dispensing of the game in just 128 pitches to Duke’s 183.
“You can’t take marginal pitches with runners in scoring position,” Pollard said. “You’ve got to find a way to spoil that pitch and get to the next pitch so that you get a chance to score those runs. In those situations, we want guys up at the plate looking to drive runs in.”
The Blue Devils will look to bounce back from both losses Feb. 28, which marks the start of a three-game home series against Northwestern.
Abby DiSalvo is a Trinity sophomore and assistant Blue Zone editor of The Chronicle's 120th volume.