The baseball team exploded for 63 runs in 20 innings in three games this weekend as it romped to a three-game sweep over Howard this weekend at historic Jack Coombs Field.
Duke (14-9) won Friday's game 17-3, and then swept two seven-inning games from Howard (3-18) on Saturday by the scores of 19-2 and 27-4.
Ryan Jackson led the way for Duke, as he hit five home runs in the series to move his total for the season to 14. This eclipses the Duke record for home runs in a season with less than half a season completed.
Jackson also contributed 16 RBIs over the weekend as he went a combined 9-for-15. He has been on a seven game home run hitting streak.
"I've just been in a zone. There's no real explanation for it," Jackson said. "I've never had a hitting streak like this one before, even in high school."
"I've never seen a streak like this in college baseball," said Duke head coach Steve Traylor. "Howard started calling him `Mattingly' out there."
Scott Pinoni, Sean McNally and Jeff Piscorik also had an outstanding weekend. The trio had 26 hits, 19 RBIs and 20 runs scored between them. Each player had at least one home run over the weekend. Ray Farmer added seven RBIs on Sunday.
"Pinoni has been swinging the bat real well," Traylor said. "He's been matching Jackson's home runs with singles and doubles.
"McNally's been our most consistent hitter all year in terms of hits and RBIs. And it was great to see Piscorik break out of his little slump.
"It really allowed us to relax with leads like that. Guys who had been struggling were able to break out, and we were able to get a lot of innings from some of our inexperienced pitchers. That was the important thing this weekend, but the actual games will be forgotten by the time we play Maryland [next weekend]."
Duke's pitching for the series was almost as good as Howard's was bad, as the Duke staff only gave up nine runs.
David Darwin, Will Barr, and Jim Sander picked up the wins, and Brian Casey closed out all three games.
"Our pitchers did a real good job of throwing strikes and staying away from any big innings," said Traylor. "We were able to make the big pitch in critical situations."
Howard's low run total was impressive based on the quality of the Howard batters, who had pounded N.C. State for 11 runs earlier this year.
"They were no easy outs, but they weren't an ACC caliber team," said Barr, who picked up the win in Saturday's first game. "I was able to feel comfortable out there because we had great defense all weekend. I was able to just throw the ball and let the defense make the plays."
The defense played as good as it has all year. The Blue Devils only committed three errors in the series.
"We've had tremendous support from the coaches," said freshman shortstop Frankie Chiou. "They would just pat us on the back when we made mistakes, and show that they believe in us. That leads to confidence on the field.
"It started in the N.C. State series when we had to pull together as a team, but a lot more came out of that series than just wins and losses.
"We got a lot better and more enthusiastic because we realize that we have to make a move now if we want to get a bid to the NCAAs."
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