The right pitch. Batters search for it. Hitting coaches harp on it. Analysts discuss it ad nauseam. No matter the level, getting runners on base is ultimately all about one thing—waiting for the right pitch.
Duke had two options heading into its last home series of the year: crumble and watch its postseason wishes fade away or find a way to get a much-needed series win. The Blue Devils chose the latter.
The Blue Devils can compete with anybody—wins against now-No. 2 Notre Dame and Louisville, two of the top teams in the robust ACC prove that—but they just cannot seem to play their best baseball reliably.
The Blue Zone has you covered with prop bets for the Blue Devils' series against one of the conference's top teams.
Peter Matt, one of Duke’s purest talents, had long envisioned a path without Duke, but now he leads the Blue Devils with 142 at bats, 44 hits and a slugging percentage of .570, putting him in position to begin a fruitful professional career.
The importance of pitching was never more obvious than in Duke's three-game series against Virginia.
With the professional season now in full swing, let's take a look at how former Blue Devils are faring in the MLB.
Duke took home a series win Sunday against Wake Forest, clinching the rubber match 11-7 after splitting lopsided affairs Friday and Saturday.
It was a historic weekend for the Blue Devils, but not in the positive sense of the phrase.
What was once a season full of optimism now begs for answers.
Peter Matt has not only been excellent, but excellently well-rounded as well to this point.
After being soundly beat Friday and Saturday night, Duke clung on to win 9-7 Sunday behind the bats of Peter Matt, Wil Hoyle and Michael Rothenberg.
There is no sport more agonizing than baseball, no sport more spiritually testing than the American pastime. That’s a fact the Blue Devils are becoming painfully aware of.
Coming off two straight losses, the Blue Devils needed a strong team performance to gain some momentum going into their midseason stretch. On Tuesday afternoon, that’s exactly what they got.
After inconsistent pitching plagued the Blue Devils last weekend against Boston College, it was a different story this time around.
Duke lost two out of three against the Eagles, subsequently falling out of the top-25 rankings.
In a weekend of baseball that included a walk-off grand slam and 50 runs scored, it was an eighth-inning bunt play in the rubber match that ultimately tilted the series in Duke’s favor.
Brakefield displayed the ability to score in bursts with a quick seven-point first half run and an impressive level of defensive versatility, a quality extremely valuable to Duke’s style of play this season.
When Duke takes the field against Coastal Carolina Saturday afternoon, it will have been 3,173 days since Chris Pollard was hired as the Blue Devils' next head baseball coach. Since that day, Duke has broken a 55-year NCAA tournament dry spell, been to two super regionals and transformed into a team on the cusp of the College World Series.
The senior catcher will return to the diamond rocking Duke blue for what will likely be one final season, with more to prove than ever before.
