On Monday, the awards were announced in terms of ACC baseball. Two Duke players were named to the All-ACC second team.

Sophomore second baseman Andy Perez and junior third baseman Jordan Betts were named to the team. They were the first two Blue Devil position players to earn All-ACC honors since Nate Freiman (now in the big leagues with Oakland) and Jeremy Gould back in 2009. Perez is the first Duke second baseman to garner this honor since Quinton McCracken in 1992. Betts is the first Duke third baseman since Jeff Becker in 1999.

Perez led the team in hitting at .316 with 67 hits, five triples, and 18 stolen bases. He batted primarily from the leadoff spot and was the only ACC second baseman to rank in the top 15 in hits or total bases.

Betts has started all 164 games of his career. Batting from the cleanup spot, he hit a career-high seven homeruns and led the team in RBIs (48). His RBIs rank 12th in the conference.

The top two teams in the ACC took the big awards.

North Carolina third baseman Colin Moran, widely considered one of the top hitters in college baseball, was named Player of the Year. Prior to last night’s win over Florida State, he was hitting .376 and had a .504 on-base percentage. His 83 RBIs are tops in the country (by a wide margin). His teammate, Kent Emanuel, was named the Pitcher of the Year. He is 9-3 with a 2.28 ERA in 102.2 innings pitched. Both are semifinalists for the Dick Howser Award, given to the top collegiate baseball player.

Despite being young, Virginia surprised everyone by finishing the regular season ranked fifth in the country by Baseball America and won their series against ACC regular season champion UNC. They were picked to finish third in the Coastal Division during the preseason. That garnered head coach Brian O’Connor with being named Coach of the Year for the third time in four years. The Cavaliers had the second best record in the conference at 22-8, but are the three seed in the tournament.

UVA outfielder Joe McCarthy was named Freshman of the Year after hitting .333 with 47 RBIs.

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The Duke baseball team lost their season finale to visiting NC State on Saturday afternoon. The 9-1 loss came in a three-game sweep.

The Wolfpack scored four runs in the top of the first and pounded out 15 in the game. Four players had multi-hit games, including Bryan Adametz, who went 3-for-5 with four RBIs (two coming in the first).

The Blue Devils scored their lone run in the eighth on Andy Perez’ RBI single (one of his three hits). He finished the season as Duke’s top hitter at .316. He also stole his team-leading 18th base in the loss.

Drew Van Orden and James Marvel combined to pitch five scoreless innings of relief.

The Blue Devils season has come to a close on a low note. The ACC Tournament begins this week at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. I’ll have more on the eight teams who qualified and the matchups on Monday.

The Duke baseball team could not hold a lead to visiting NC State and lost in ten innings, 7-6. The Blue Devils led 6-5 heading into the top of the 8th inning when Logan Ratledge delivered a two out RBI single. They actually led 4-0 and then 6-3.

The Wolfpack scored the go ahead run on an Andrew Istler wild pitch in the tenth (he lost his sixth game of the season). The Blue Devils had the tying run on second base with one out, but Chris Marconcini fouled out to end the game off new pitcher Grant Sasser.

Duke got to Preseason All-American (and last season’s ACC Pitcher of the Year) Carlos Rodon, but he still pitched nine innings. He allowed six runs (four earned) on six hits and three walks while striking out 15.

They loaded the bases in the second inning with three straight singles, but could not push a run across. Duke scored four runs in the 3rd inning off Rodon, capped by Jordan Betts’ two-run double. The other two runs scored on wild pitches. They scored their final two runs in the 5th inning without a hit. One scored on a fielder’s choice, the other on Marconcini‘s sac fly.

From there, Rodon retired the side in order over his final four innings of work. In that timespan, he struck out eight.

Blue Devils starter Trent Swart allowed six runs (five earned) on eight hits and two walks over 7.1 innings. He struck out four. Istler entered in the 8th inning and allowed the go ahead run to score.

On offense for Duke, Andy Perez and Betts collected two hits each. Perez scored three runs while Betts drove in three.

The two teams finish out the series later this afternoon. It will be Duke’s final game of the season.

The Duke baseball team lost to visiting NC State on Thursday night, 5-2. The Wolfpack scored three runs with two outs in the first inning. They are just percentage points behind the tie atop the Atlantic Division.

The Blue Devils had at least one base runner in every inning, but went just 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position. They struck out at least seven times with men in scoring position, according to Duke head coach Chris Pollard.

Jeff Kremer went 3-for-4.

Robert Huber took the loss, as he allowed four runs on seven hits and three walks over just three innings. Nick Hendrix was solid in relief, as he allowed one run on five hits and a walk over 3.1 innings. Sarkis Ohanian finished out the game with 2.2 scoreless innings.

The two teams continue their series tonight.

*With Thursday’s games, the top eight teams have clinched spots in the upcoming ACC Tournament. However, it has gotten interesting near the top.

Virginia beat top seed North Carolina, moving them a win from a tie at the top (with two more games to go). Clemson beat FSU to create a tie atop the Atlantic Division (with two more to go). Miami beat Georgia Tech, bringing them a game away from pulling out of the final spot.

In their final non-conference game of the season, the Duke baseball team beat host UNC Greensboro, 12-2 on Tuesday. The Blue Devils collected 17 hits, one shy of their season-high (which came against UNC Greensboro back in April).

Andy Perez and Mark Lumpa (the top two hitters in the Blue Devils lineup) combined for eight of the 17 hits for Duke. Those two reached base nine times and scored four runs. Lumpa also drove in three runs.

Those two set the table for the middle of Duke’s order. Jeff Kremer went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and an RBI. Jordan Betts drove in two runs on two hits and Chris Marconcini drove in three.

Duke scored three runs each in the fifth, seventh, and eighth innings to blow the game open.

James Marvel got the start for Duke and allowed one run on three hits. Drew Van Orden earned the win, though he allowed one run on four hits over three innings. Sarkis Ohanian and Michael Matuella combined to pitch the final three innings, without allowing a hit.

The Blue Devils now host NC State Thursday-Saturday in their final series of the season.

With the loss in Sunday’s finale, the Duke baseball team was swept by Virginia. They lost the finale, 14-6.

Duke actually led 3-0 early, but the Cavaliers just kept putting runs on the board. The Blue Devils cut the deficit to one twice, but a five run 7th inning put the game away. They also scored five runs in the second.

The Blue Devils still just have nine ACC wins, which will not be enough to qualify for the conference tournament with just one weekend left of baseball.

Duke collected 15 hits, but so did UVA. Chris Marconcini went 3-for-4 with a walk. In the weekend series, he hit .559 with three walks and three runs scored. Grant McCabe, Jeff Kremer, Jordan Betts, and Reed Anthes each collected two hits. McCabe drove in two and Betts scored two runs.

Robert Huber took the loss, as he allowed five runs in just 1.1 innings. He got the start. Nick Hendrix was solid in his 4.1 relief innings. He allowed two runs on five hits.

Next up, the Blue Devils travel to UNC Greensboro on Tuesday night.

The Duke baseball team was blown out in the second game of their series at Virginia. The Blue Devils lost 17-8.

The Cavaliers registered a season-high 22 hits (including six for extra bases) and scored 13 runs combined across the third and fourth innings. All of their runs scored in the 3rd inning came with two outs. In the 4th inning, they sent 12 men to the plate in scoring eight runs. Five of their hitters picked up at least three hits.

Duke had a five-run fifth inning, but that only cut the deficit to 15-6.

Chris Marconini went 2-for-2 with two walks and one of Duke’s RBIs. Andrew Istler also drove in a run with a sac fly in his first plate appearance since March 10th. That tied the game at 1-1 in the second.

Michael Matuella took the loss, as he allowed seven runs (six earned) on ten hits over just 2.2 innings in his first ACC start.

The two teams finish the series this afternoon.

The Duke baseball team lost to Virginia, 6-5, as the Cavaliers walked off.

UVA picked up five hits in their final at-bats, as they trailed 5-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth. Nate Irving drove in the game winner with a single.

Trent Swart was solid despite the no-decision. He allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits and one walk over eight innings. He struck out six and retired 12 in a row from the 2nd inning to the sixth.

Andrew Istler entered in the ninth and allowed a one out triple and then a wild pitch to score a run. A 55 minute weather delay still could not stop the Cavaliers (or stop Duke from sending Istler back out there).

Andy Perez hit a two-run homerun in the third and Kenny Koplove hit his first career home run, a two-run shot, to give the Blue Devils a 4-2 lead in the fourth. Jeff Kremer drove in two with a double in the seventh.

The two teams are back on the field on Saturday. It looks as if Duke will not be playing in the upcoming ACC Tournament.

Due to inclement weather, the Duke baseball game against Davidson on Tuesday was cancelled. Because there are just two weekends left of the college baseball regular season, this game will not be made up.

The Blue Devils now travel to Charlottesville to face Virginia this weekend. The first game begins on Friday at 6pm ET. UVA is ranked in the top ten in the country and is second in the ACC’s Coastal Division. Duke needs wins to qualify for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

After a week off, the Duke baseball team fell to host Liberty on Sunday, 4-3.

The Blue Devils took a 3-2 lead in the 8th inning, only to see Liberty come right back with two runs to take the lead.

The Blue Devils scored all three runs in the eighth with two outs. Grant McCabe delivered a two-run single and they had a successful double steal, with David Perkins stealing home.

One of the two runs Liberty scored in the bottom of the 8th inning was unearned, as Chris Marconcini committed a throwing error. Andrew Istler took the loss, as the unearned run that scored was his base runner. That was his fourth loss of the season.

Duke had just five hits (from five different batters).

Robert Huber started and pitched the first three innings. He escaped a bases loaded jam in the first. His line looked like this: 3IP, 3H, 0R, 3BB, 4K. Michael Matuella followed and allowed two runs on four hits over three innings. Both of the Liberty runs came in the fifth.

Next up for Duke, they travel to Davidson for a Tuesday night midweek game.