Despite Duke playing in the second game of a home series against N.C. State Saturday afternoon, the raucous Wolfpack crowd made Jack Coombs field seem anything like home for the Blue Devils, and they once again left the park happy after a more competitive matchup.
Strong performances by both teams' pitchers culminated in a close 2-1 N.C. State victory. Following the Wolfpack's 9-2 win Friday night, Duke fared much better, as senior starter Mitch Stallings struck out nine batters through six innings.
“No walks too—that was so encouraging to see,” Blue Devil head coach Chris Pollard said. “Mitch has been producing a ton of swings and misses all year. He’s had some really good strikeout numbers, but at times he’s been guilty of giving up too many free passes. To see him go out today, and continue to produce the swings and misses, and not provide any free offense was really great.”
N.C. State (31-7, 15-5 in the ACC) got all the offense it needed in the top of the sixth to break a scoreless tie. Will Wilson blasted an RBI triple to deep right-center after the Wolfpack led off with a double, and a sacrifice fly to shallow right brought Wilson in from third.
After Wilson was initially ruled out at the plate, the play was reviewed and ultimately overturned, bringing the Wolfpack lead to 2-0.
After having runners on first and third with no outs in the first inning, Duke (30-10, 12-7) failed to put runs on the board, with two strikeouts and a groundout erasing the threat. This proved to be a trend through the rest of the game, as Blue Devils frequented the bases but were unable to make it home.
Stallings had three strikeouts through the first two innings, and Duke's defense contributed by picking off a player from first who ended up in a pickle. In the third, catcher Chris Proctor added to the defensive success by throwing one down the middle to nab a runner at second to end the inning.
“Coming into this ballgame, I think we’re fielding right around 980, and we had gone through a prolonged stretch where he hadn’t had an error in any ball game,” Pollard said. “That’s hard to do in the world of college baseball. So, our defense has been there for us all year, and it was again today. Obviously, having Max Miller back in there at second base today really solidifies a lot of things defensively for us.”
The Blue Devils were unable to turn their momentum into runs, instead going three-up, three-down at the plate in both the third and fourth innings despite making good contact.
Stallings kept his team in the game, striking out another two in the fifth inning before Duke stranded a runner in the bottom half. After N.C. State's offense finally delivered, the Blue Devils had another chance to respond, as Griffin Conine and Joey Loperfido both singled in the fifth, but neither came around to score.
Ethan DeCaster replaced Stallings with one out in the seventh and made quick work of the next two batters. Jack Labosky and Michael Smiciklas both had singles to start out the bottom half of the inning with runners on base, but yet again, Duke was unable to capitalize and left them on first and third after a pop-out and a pair of groundouts.
An impressive two-out double by Conine in the eighth sparked life back into a Blue Devil offense that had yet to score. Duke then capitalized off a two-out error by Wilson, who fielded a grounder at shortstop before bouncing his throw past first base, which allowed Max Miller to reach first safely and Conine to score Duke’s first run of the game, cutting the 2-0 deficit at half.
The Wolfpack nearly added the insurance run right back in the top of the ninth, but a throw from Jimmy Herron on a single to right field was in time for Proctor to apply the tag to Evan Edwards trying to score from second. This time, the out call was upheld after being reviewed, keeping the score 2-1.
The Blue Devils went down quietly in the bottom of the ninth, failing to put a runner on.
Despite Duke’s inability to score, it matched N.C. State with nine hits. The Blue Devils made solid contact throughout the game, but were unable to string enough hits together in any given inning, finishing the game with 10 men left on base.
“It’s hard to go through a college baseball season and not have one of these dips,” Pollard said. “Especially when you’re playing the gauntlet of the schedule that we’re running right now. We competed a lot better today, and of course that started with the job that Mitch did on the mound. You compete, you keep yourself in ballgames like that, you get guys in scoring position, good things will eventually happen.”
The Blue Devils will face the Wolfpack one more time in the series finale at 1 p.m. back at Jack Coombs Field Sunday, trying to avoid getting swept for the first time of the year.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.