Is Jack Coombs Field historic? At least a dozen students have asked me that question over the last week. But whether or not Duke's baseball field deserves that praiseworthy adjective, the baseball team's performance at home this year has certainly been one for the books.
The Blue Devils have charged out to a 30-8-1 record, 7-5 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. With 18 regular-season games left, plus the ACC Tournament and a possible bid to the regionals, Duke will almost surely break its school record mark of 38 wins set in 1992. The back-to-back 30-win seasons, also a school record, is a sign that the 20th-ranked Blue Devils have moved into the upper echelon of ACC competitors.
Despite losing senior stars Quinton McCracken (team leader with a .373 batting average and 33 stolen bases) and starting pitchers Mike Kotarski and Jack Zarinsky (a combined 13-4 on the year), the Blue Devils were confident they could repeat last season's performance, if not improve upon it. Once they took the field, it became readily apparent that they were right. Duke began the season 15-2 and took two out of three games from a then top-25 Clemson team at Clemson for the first time since 1946.
The team subsequently scored big wins over two top-10 opponents, taking one of three games from both Florida State and N.C. State. In both weekends, Duke narrowly lost games that were well within reach, falling 3-1 to FSU and 2-1 to the Wolfpack in the third game of each series.
Duke's success is thanks largely to a young, but dominating pitching staff and a hitting attack that currently boasts seven impact players for the Blue Devils over the .300 mark. Sophomore Scott Pinoni leads the team with a .384 batting average and 41 RBIs, a pace that would break David Norman's career record of 132 RBIs if he stays at Duke all four years. Pinoni knocked in 41 runs last season and is only two RBIs out of sixth place on Duke's all time list. And seniors Cass Hopkins and Mike Olexa have picked up where McCracken left off last season, stealing 17 and 16 bases respectively, to lead the team. Both players have been caught only two times.
But as explosive as the offense has been (14 games marked by double-figures in runs), the pitching has been the story of this season's success. A question mark at the beginning of the season, two freshmen have made good on their talent that was visible from the first day of fall practice. Scott Schoeneweis, drafted in the 15th round by the Montreal Expos, has pitched his way to a perfect 8-0 record and a 2.23 ERA. He has struck out 75 batters in 68 and two-thirds innings and given up only 20 walks. David Darwin, with a 5-2 record and a 3.27 ERA, has been equally impressive.
"The big question mark this season for me was how the freshmen pitchers would perform," said senior Matt Harrell. "They both had good falls and are loaded with potential. But there is a big difference between intrasquad games and games against ACC quality teams. I'm very impressed with the way they've performed and stepped up. They've shown a lot of poise as freshmen."
Add in senior Phil Harrell's 3-2 record, including a dominating performance in a 2-1 loss to N.C. State last weekend, and it's no wonder that opponents have batted only .246 against Duke and scored only 132 runs (compared to .297 and 303 for the Blue Devils). Harrell leads the starters with opponents batting only .187 against him. Junior Ryan Jackson provides the team with a solid closer as well, posting five saves on the season. It's as if the team has not missed a beat with the injury to junior Tony Runion, who was expected to pitch on opening day and to hold a spot in the starting rotation.
The Blue Devils are brimming with confidence and that is a big key to their current success. That confidence goes beyond games they should win -- against the likes of North Carolina A&T, Shaw and Howard -- and has extended into encounters with the ACC powerhouses -- N.C. State, FSU and Clemson.
"The key to the whole thing is establishing a winning attitude," junior third baseman Sean McNally said after the Blue Devils defeated UNC-Asheville 6-1 on Wednesday. "We need to go out there every time and know that we're going to win the game. Games like this, non-conference games, you have to have that attitude. I think this year we've carried it over to ACC competition."
The pollsters have taken the Duke baseball package into consideration despite a rather soft non-conference schedule and a rather generous home schedule (23 straight games at Jack Coombs Field and a stretch of 33 out of 35). The team reached as high as 19th in the Collegiate Baseball Top 25 last week before falling to 20th this week. Because of their schedule, the Blue Devils may have to win more than 40 games and finish in the ACC's top three or four to receive consideration for a trip to postseason competition at regionals and an opportunity to reach a coveted berth in the College World Series.
That makes this weekend's matchup with ninth-ranked Georgia Tech all the more important. Winning one of three, as in the earlier conference encounters with State and FSU is not the goal for this weekend. The Blue Devils are looking for more.
"Everybody's looking forward to Tech," McNally said. "We got one out of three from Florida State and N.C. State where we're in the last game both times. This time we want two out of three. We don't want to settle for just winning one and feeling good about how we played the last game. We want to just jump on those guys."
Last weekend against N.C. State a new tradition may have been started at Jack Coombs Field, when much to the delight of the team and the sizeable crowd, an organ was brought by a group of students, adding a big-league flavor to the games. The team liked it so much that they stored it at the field themselves Saturday night to make sure it made a repeat appearance Sunday. With nice weather expected again this weekend, the fans and the organ should be back.
"I can't tell you how much I appreciate the fans coming out this year," Hopkins said. "It feels good. When you do well, people realize that you're winning and give you support. It makes you play better. It makes you want to come to the ball park to play."
"I noticed [the organ] when going up to the plate," McNally said. "It just gave it a big-time atmosphere. It was really not like anything else in the ACC."
If the Blue Devils keep up their winning ways, the fans and the organ could become mainstays at Jack Coombs Field. If nothing else, that, in and of itself could certainly be viewed as historic.
Michael Robbins is a Trinity senior and sports editor of The Chronicle. His column runs on a bi-weekly basis, and it's possible that the next one may illustrate why Jack Coombs Field is historic (or if in fact it is).
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