When a college team gets the chance to play against a professional team, the game is typically geared toward the professional players who are using the game as a tune-up for their season. For Duke, however, a strong showing in its exhibition might turn out to be just the spark the Blue Devils need as they look to reverse a slow start to conference play.
After nearly knocking off the Durham Bulls in an exhibition matchup Tuesday, Duke travels to Coral Gables, Fla., to take on an uncharacteristically weak Miami team as it returns to ACC play. The teams will tangle Saturday at 7 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m. and Monday at 7 p.m. at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.
The Blue Devils have now gone a week since their last win, a 14-0 blowout against Pittsburgh before the Panthers came back to win the final two games of the weekend series. However, Duke played well against the Bulls, and heads into the weekend knowing that if it were not for a close call at the plate Tuesday, it might have knocked off one of the most well-known minor league teams in baseball.
But Blue Devil head coach Chris Pollard’s team needs to put together more consistent stretches against league foes. Duke has lost three straight ACC series and has very few quality wins to its name as it readies to face a proud program coming off back-to-back College World Series appearances that now sits outside the top 25.
“Probably the most impressive thing for me was the way we swung the bats, considering we don’t get a lot of practice during the year with wood in a live game setting,” Pollard said after Tuesday’s game. “I thought our pitchers did a really good job of pounding the strike zone. We played really good defense. I thought we played a good ballgame.”
The Blue Devils (16-15, 5-7 in the ACC) will need a similar recipe to fare well against ACC talent. Duke took two of three from Virginia Tech in its opening conference series but has since lost two of three in subsequent weekend matchups with Wake Forest, then-No. 20 Virginia and Pittsburgh.
Although the Blue Devils have struggled at times on offense, it has generally been one of the strongest parts of their game this season. Sophomores Jimmy Herron and Griffin Conine are tied for the team lead in batting at .322 each, and as a team, Duke ranks sixth in the ACC in average and slugging percentage. Conine, in particular, has showed tremendous improvement in his second season, earning second-team midseason All-American accolades by leading his team in a slew of categories, including runs, RBIs and homers.
Against the Bulls, it was junior star Jack Labosky who provided the only run for the Blue Devils, with his lone hit coming on a double to right-center field that nearly cleared the fence. Along with Herron and Conine at the top of the order, Labosky has been a force on offense this season, and his five home runs are tied for second-most on the team.
“To be able to put a good swing on that ball was a lot of fun and something to remember,” Labosky said. “As a whole team, we had a lot of fun with it.”
Duke hopes to continue the fun this weekend. The Hurricanes, typically an annual contender in the ACC, have struggled so far this season and have lost three of their last five games heading into Friday’s series opener.
Despite its struggles, Miami (13-16, 5-7) has been significantly better at home this season, going 10-7 compared to 3-9 on the road. However, the Hurricanes dropped their last home ACC series against Wake Forest for their first home ACC series loss of the season. In 2015 and 2016, Miami went a combined 70-11 in the friendly confines of Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.
A lack of offensive production has set the Hurricanes back, with the team’s paltry .206 batting average putting the unit last in the ACC. The three-time defending ACC regular-season champions will look to Romy Gonzalez, Michael Burns and Carl Chester—who average a .345 on-base percentage between them at the top of the lineup—to get to Blue Devil starters Mitch Stallings, Adam Laskey and Ryan Day.
Duke’s weekend starters have struggled mightily, which could let the home team break out of its offensive slump and rely on its strong pitching staff to break the tie for fifth in the ACC Coastal Division. The Miami pitching staff has fared slightly better than its offense, posting a 4.06 ERA, eighth in the ACC and nearly a full point better than the Blue Devils’ 4.81 team ERA.
For Duke to be successful on the road this weekend, it will likely need both its starters and relievers to work well throughout contests if the Hurricanes stymie the Blue Devil offense, as occurred Tuesday against the Bulls. The bullpen provided four innings of near-perfect work after starter Graeme Stinson put forth a performance to remember, giving up just one run on four hits spread across four innings.
“Talent-wise, we’re as good as we’ve been on the mound, we just haven’t consistently been clean on the mound,” Pollard said. “We’re giving away a lot of free bases. We were really good tonight at pounding the zone, and that’s a good recipe for us moving forward.”
Mitchell Gladstone contributed reporting.
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