Duke baseball avoids sweep by downing Miami Monday

<p>Sophomore Griffin Conine and the Blue Devils blew a 7-0 lead Saturday and were shut out Sunday before recovering with a 5-2 extra-inning victory.&nbsp;</p>

Sophomore Griffin Conine and the Blue Devils blew a 7-0 lead Saturday and were shut out Sunday before recovering with a 5-2 extra-inning victory. 

Up until this year, a trip to Coral Gables, Fla., to take on Miami has traditionally been one of the toughest tasks in college baseball.

But even Miami's inconsistent play could not help the Blue Devils break out of their funk.

The three-time defending ACC Coastal Division champion Hurricanes entered their weekend series against Duke hitting a conference-worst .206, but came alive against the Blue Devils. Miami scored 16 runs combined Saturday and Sunday, overcoming a 7-0 deficit in the last three innings in the series opener to prevail 9-7 before blanking Duke 7-0 at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field. 

In the series finale, Blue Devil junior Ryan Day shut out the Hurricanes for seven innings before the bullpen blew a 2-0 lead, forcing Duke to ultimately manufacture three runs in the 10th inning to take the series finale 5-2 Monday night. That victory was not enough, however, to prevent head coach Chris Pollard's team from dropping its fourth straight league series and erase the pain of the series opener. 

"I've never been a part of a ninth inning like that," Pollard said of Saturday's loss. "Every coach that has done this long enough has times where you give up a lead. That's part of the game. I don't know if I've ever had a three-run lead with two strikes on four different batters where one pitch could have ended the game with a win."  

Before their untimely collapse, the Blue Devils (17-17, 6-9 in the ACC) got off to a fast start for the third straight weekend. Duke’s offense, ranked ninth in the ACC in runs scored, exploded behind junior starter Mitch Stallings, who gave up just one hit through the first six innings as his team built a commanding lead.

Sparked by sophomore Griffin Conine's eighth home run of the season, a two-run shot, the Blue Devils mounted a six-run fourth inning to jump ahead of the Hurricanes (15-17, 7-8). As he has all season, Conine led the way on offense, finishing the series 4-for-12 with 3 RBIs.

Following the second-team midseason All-American’s long ball, Duke loaded the bases and was gifted three runs on a wild pitch and hit-by-pitch before scoring the final run of the frame when sophomore outfielder Jimmy Herron knocked in a run with a single.

But after tacking on an insurance run in the seventh inning, the Blue Devils came undone. 

After a 15-inning shutout streak, Stallings gave up five hits and four runs, three of them earned. A pair of doubles, including a three-run Christopher Barr two-bagger with the bases loaded, suddenly cut Duke’s lead to 7-4.

But the real damage occurred after the bullpen replaced Stallings, as has been the case for much of the season. 

Despite a clean eighth, redshirt junior James Ziemba surrendered back-to-back walks to load the bases before giving way to junior closer Jack Labosky. With his team up three, the normally reliable Clovis, Calif., native threw just nine pitches, allowing a two-run double to Randy Batista before giving up a walk-off three-run home run to Johnny Ruiz.

After blowing its seven-run lead, Duke looked flat Sunday, leaving 11 men on base en route to an ugly 7-0 loss. Freshman starter Adam Laskey was bounced after facing eight batters and recording just one out, yielding four runs that put the Blue Devils in an early hole that they never recovered from.

The bullpen shored things up going forward, giving up just three runs in the remaining 8.2 innings, but the offense’s absence nipped Duke.

Luckily for the Blue Devils, with their most effective starter on the hill Monday in Day, they avoided a sweep.

After entering the contest with a team-best 2.59 ERA, Day used his biting sinker to face just two batters more than the minimum in his seven scoreless frames. The right-handed pitcher forced 13 ground outs to protect his team's 2-0 lead. 

"I saw tremendous competitive fight [from Day]," Pollard said. "He competed his tail off when we really needed it. He threw three pitches for strikes, had good sink on his fastball and produced a ton of ground-ball contact. We played really good defense behind him—it was a really good, clean ballgame."

Labosky had a few examples of that standout defense from his third-base spot, fielding a hard ground ball after moving to his right in the sixth inning, then making a perfect strike to nail the runner. Earlier in the game, he made a nice grab on a chopper in the fourth inning to give Day another boost. 

However, once again, the Blue Devils' bullpen faded in the late innings Monday, though this time it didn’t come back to bite them. Graduate student Nick Hendrix coughed up a pair of runs in the eighth, sending Duke to extra innings.

But despite its recent struggles, Duke used three RBI singles from Herron, sophomore Zack Kone and Conine to earn just its third road win of the year.

With the No. 138 RPI in the nation and needing a sparkling record in the last half of the season to get back into NCAA tournament contention, the Blue Devils return to action Wednesday at Campbell before hosting Boston College this weekend. Unless Duke stabilizes its bullpen, its inconsistent results in league play will likely continue. 

"It's been a concern, it's not a secret," Pollard said. "We just have to continue to work to get better and work on different options to try and find the right formula down there. Consistency has been the issue. We've had a ton of guys that have thrown the ball really well, it's just a matter of getting consistent outings."


Ben Leonard profile
Ben Leonard

Managing Editor 2018-19, 2019-2020 Features & Investigations Editor 


A member of the class of 2020 hailing from San Mateo, Calif., Ben is The Chronicle's Towerview Editor and Investigations Editor. Outside of the Chronicle, he is a public policy major working towards a journalism certificate, has interned at the Tampa Bay Times and NBC News and frequents Pitchforks. 

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