Duke baseball looks to build momentum Tuesday at Davidson

Freshman Peter Zyla leads the Blue Devils with a .338 batting average heading into Tuesday's nonconference tilt against Davidson.
Freshman Peter Zyla leads the Blue Devils with a .338 batting average heading into Tuesday's nonconference tilt against Davidson.

As the home stretch draws near, every victory becomes increasingly important for the Blue Devils.

Duke will head to Wilson Field for a non-conference tilt against Davidson Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Davidson, N.C. After a pair of lopsided wins in Sunday's doubleheader against N.C. Central, the Blue Devils will take aim at the Wildcats, who they defeated 10-6 April 7.

With final exams in the rearview mirror, Duke can focus on one thing and one thing only as it attempts to make a postseason push—baseball.

"It's very nice—it's eat, sleep and play baseball," sophomore pitcher Bailey Clark said after Sunday's doubleheader.

The Blue Devil bats came alive in their first games in a week, totaling 25 hits—nine for extra bases—and 16 runs against the Eagles. Freshman Peter Zyla led the way with five RBIs on the afternoon and redshirt sophomore Jalen Phillips smacked an RBI triple and a run-scoring double in the first game to make sure that starters Clark and Andrew Istler had plenty of cushion to work with on the mound.

Zyla—who leads the team in batting average at .338—returned to form against the Eagles, spraying the ball to all fields from the left side of the plate after going 1-for-7 in the last two games of Duke's ACC series against Virginia Tech before finals. The Alpharetta, Ga., native noted that the extra rest head coach Chris Pollard gave the team during exam week gave him time to get rested for the final end-of-season push.

"I got to rest a lot more, I finished my classes pretty early, so that definitely helped," Zyla said. "I feel a lot fresher, I know the team feels great."

The Blue Devils (26-19) used nine pitchers in the two games Sunday and will again rely on a stable of arms to get the job done against the Wildcats (23-18) Tuesday. Only Istler and Clark went more than two innings, with relievers Sarkis Ohanian, Kenny Koplove, Luke Whitten and Ryan Day all tossing less than an inning.

Pollard had not decided on a starter for Tuesday's game after Sunday's doubleheader.

"We're going to see how some guys feel [Monday]," he said. "We're going to split the ballgame up, throw several different guys."

Outfielder Lee Miller leads Davidson in most offensive categories, putting together a junior campaign that includes a .372 batting average, 15 doubles, six homers and 45 RBIs. David Daniels and Ryan Lowe join Miller with batting averages better than .300. The trio supplies plenty of power as well, combining for 17 home runs on the year. The Wildcats are 1-2 in May after finishing April on a four-game winning streak.

Duke currently sits in sixth place in the Coastal Division standings and faces an uphill climb to get into the 10-team ACC tournament field with just six league games remaining. A victory against the Wildcats would give the Blue Devils added momentum heading into a series on the road at Virginia this weekend.

The Cavaliers sit right above Duke in the Coastal—2.5 games ahead of the Blue Devils—meaning a series win in Charlottesville, Va., would put Duke on the path toward a tournament bid.

"I think the key is to take care of these midweek games, and then in the ACC just really try to battle—they're always close, one-run games," Zyla said. "Someone needs to get that big hit and we really need to get these wins and win these next series."

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