The Duke baseball team literally hung on for the 9-7 victory at Campbell on Tuesday night. The two teams saved all the excitement for the last two innings.

The Blue Devils led 3-2 heading into the 8th inning before sending 11 men to the plate to score six runs. Campbell made it very interesting in the bottom of the 9th inning with five runs of their own to make it a game again.

Ben McQuown of Campbell had a two-run double and Jake Kirkland hit a three-run homerun. All of that offense came against Drew Van Orden, who seems to pitch every day. He recorded just one out. Duke needed to bring in David Putnam (who also pitches every day) to finally preserve the win.

All of Campbell’s late inning offense almost negated the fine relief appearance from Dillon Haviland. He pitched 3.1 scoreless innings behind Nick Piscotty (4.2 IP, 6H, 2R, 2BB, 4K). Haviland allowed just two hits and a walk. He entered the game with the bases loaded in the 5th inning but escaped without allowing a run.

Five Duke players collected multi-hit games, with three of them also driving in two runs (Andy Perez, Andrew Istler, and Will Piwnica-Worms).

*Next up for Duke, Clemson rolls into town after getting back into the middle of the pack in the ACC.

I wouldn’t consider this weekend’s series at Virginia Tech a must win for the Duke baseball team, but getting their first ACC series win would be a great thing. Well, they won the series but also swept the Hokies.

It started with Friday night’s game as ace Marcus Stroman struck out eight over eight innings of work. He did allow three runs on ten hits. Scouts won’t like to hear that Stroman threw 129 pitches (86 for strikes). Andrew Istler pitched a 1-2-3 9th inning to preserve the 5-3 victory.

Istler also led off and played left field for the Blue Devils. He went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Andy Perez followed in the order and went 3-for-5 with a run scored. The RBI man was catcher Mike Rosenfeld, who drove in three in the first inning.

For VT, Tyler Horan, Chad Pinder, and Andrew Rash each went 2-for-4. Horan also scored two runs and drove in two.

Saturday’s game was suspended until Sunday due to lightning, with Duke leading 11-0. Duke’s Trent Swart was dominant in his start, as he allowed just four hits over 7.2 innings. He walked one, while striking out seven.

When play resumed on Sunday, Will Piwnica-Worms upped Duke’s lead to 13-0 with a two-run homerun in the top of the 9th inning. Matt Lumpa pitched 1.2 scoreless innings of relief for Duke on Sunday.

Piwnica-Worms went 4-for-5 with three runs scored and five RBIs. Andy Perez and Mike Rosenfeld each collected three hits.

» Continue reading “Duke Sweeps Virginia Tech”

The Duke baseball team welcomed the top 15-ranked Miami Hurricanes to town for a weekend series starting Friday night.

The Blue Devils won their first ACC game of the season behind the great start from ace Marcus Stroman and 12 hits from the offense. Duke won on Friday night, 5-1.

Stroman pitched like the ace that he is, as he allowed just one run on six hits and two walks over seven innings. He struck out 13 batters.

However Miami made it interesting once Stroman exited in the top of the 8th inning. Drew Van Orden started the inning and gave up back-to-back singles. Coach Sean McNally went to Andrew Istler, who was playing left field. Istler came on and retired 6 of the 7 batters he faced to close out the game. Four of those hitters struck out.

Every Miami starter struck out at least once.

On offense, Will Piwnica-Worms led the team with three hits, a run scored, and an RBI. Jordan Betts went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, Istler went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Mike Rosenfeld went 2-for-4.

» Continue reading “Duke and Miami Split First Two Games”

It was a tough weekend for the Duke baseball team as they opened up ACC play by hosting 12th-ranked Florida State. They were swept in the weekend series and now sit in last place in the Coastal Division at 0-3.

Friday night may have been the toughest loss. Ace Marcus Stroman held FSU hitless for 5.2 innings and entered the 8th inning with a 3-2 lead. That lead quickly evaporated as James Ramsey delivered a two-run triple to cap the Seminoles three-run 8th inning and FSU won 5-3. Stroman struck out nine over 7.1 innings and took the loss.

David Putnam pitched the final 1.2 innings for Duke and allowed an RBI ground out following Ramsey’s go-ahead triple and Stroman’s exit.

Robert Benincasa struck out three of the four batters he faced to record the save for FSU.

Grant McCabe and Angelo LaBruna collected two hits for the Blue Devils.

» Continue reading “Duke Versus FSU Weekend Recap”

George Washington only scored in three innings, but that was enough as GW beat Duke 8-5 in the weekend series finale. GW scored two runs in the 2nd inning, three runs in the 4th inning, and three more runs in the 6th inning.

Duke starter Robert Huber had a rough day, as he allowed five runs (three earned) on eight hits and four walks over just four innings. Drew Van Orden followed him and allowed three runs on four walks and two hits. Two of those runs came on Jimmy Best‘s two-run homerun in the 6th inning.

Walks were again the problem for the Duke pitching staff. In total, they walked ten GW batters. The Duke defense also committed three errors.

Even though reliever David Putnam walked two batters, he did not allow a hit or run over two scoreless innings. He also struck out three.

Duke had their chances to score more runs, as two GW pitchers walked seven batters. They also collected eight hits. However, they scored just five runs. GW reliever Kenny O’Brien allowed one run on four hits and two walks over 3.2 innings. He also struck out seven.

I mentioned Best‘s homerun earlier. The GW catcher went 4-for-5 with two runs scored and four RBIs. Batting in front of Best, Stephen Oswald went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBIs.

Offensively for Duke, Matt Berezo went 2-for-4 with a run scored, a walk, and a stolen base from the leadoff spot. Jordan Betts went 1-for-3 with two RBIs. Anthony D’Alessandro went 2-for-4 with an RBI from the ninth spot in the order.

*Next up for Duke is a road game on Tuesday afternoon against Western Carolina.

Down 8-2 after the second inning, the Duke Blue Devils got great relief work from their pitchers and a big pinch-hit from David Perkins, as they walked off 9-8.

Perkins stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and just one out, with Duke trailing 8-6. Perkins was pinch-hitting for Matt Lumpa (who had went 0-for-3). He took the 2-1 pitch into the left center field gap for a double to clear the bases and give the Blue Devils the hard fought victory.

Duke starter Nick Piscotty allowed all eight runs in just 1.2 innings (though Remy Janco allowed three of those runs to score). But after that 2nd inning, the Blue Devils pitching staff shut down Eastern Michigan. The relief corp of Janco, Drew Van Orden, and David Putnam allowed just six hits. Putnam earned the victory after pitching two shutout innings (he allowed just one hit).

Offensively, Will Piwnica-Worms went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and his second homerun of the season. He, Jeff Kremer, and Jordan Betts (the 3-5 hitters) went 6-for-13 with five runs scored. Grant McCabe went 2-for-3 with two walks, an RBI, while scoring the winning run.

Duke welcomes George Washington into town for a weekend series.

The Duke baseball team swept their doubleheader this afternoon against Canisius, as they took Game 1, 10-1 and Game 2, 4-3.

Trent Swart via Marc Kirsch

In Game 1, Trent Swart rebounded from his poor outing in Texas last weekend to pitch well today. He allowed just one run on five hits (though he walked four) over six innings. He also struck out eight.

The Duke offense blew the game open with a four-run 8th inning. They had one out and two men on base when Canisius made a pitching change. In came Charlie LoBosco, who allowed both runners to score and two more of his own.

On offense for Duke, Matt Berezo went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Grant McCabe followed in the order and went 2-for-5 with an RBI. Jeff Kremer also went 2-for-4, scored two runs, and drove in two.

In Game 2, Duke jumped out to the quick 1-0 lead in the first inning. Berezo led off with a double and scored on Will Piwnica-Worms‘ single. They put two more on the board in the 3rd inning to take a 3-0 lead, aided by a Canisius error.

Canisius came back and scored a run in the 4th inning and two more in the 5th inning, aided by two Duke errors.

» Continue reading “Duke Sweeps Doubleheader Versus Canisius”

Will Piwnica-Worms via Marc Kirsch

One day after losing their home opener to Campbell, the Duke offense came to life in a big way with a nine-run 3rd inning en route to their 17-4 win over NC Central at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

The Blue Devils scored in every inning but the 7th and 8th innings. They hit four homeruns, including Matt Lumpa off the bench. Every starter but Jordan Betts collected at least one hit (he went 0-for-6 with four strikeouts).

Grant McCabe went 5-for-6 with four runs scored and three RBIs. Will Piwnica-Worms followed him in the order and went 4-for-4 with two runs scored, four RBIs, two walks, a stolen base, and a homerun.

Jeff Kremer went 3-for-5 with a homerun, two runs scored, an RBI, and a walk. Andy Perez followed him and went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, an RBI, and a stolen base. Catcher Ryan Munger also hit a homerun before being replaced.

Andrew Istler earned the victory for the Blue Devils, with two innings of relief out of the bullpen. David Putnam made his first start of the season, allowing two runs on eight hits over four innings.

The dominant pitching performance came from Duke reliever Remy Janco. He struck out all three batters he faced in his one inning of relief.

In the nine-run inning, Jasper Jones recorded just two outs in the 3rd inning in relief of NC Central starter Michael Romano, who allowed two runs (one earned) over the first two innings.

Next up for Duke is a weekend home series against Canisius. It will be a four-game series, with two games on Saturday.