The baseball team extended its winning streak to seven games with a sweep of Atlantic Coast Conference rival Maryland this weekend at College Park, Md.
Head coach Steve Traylor told the team after Sunday's game that this weekend's sweep was the first road sweep of an ACC team since he arrived at Duke seven years ago.
"The last two years, all the teams in the ACC have been real tight," outfielder/designated hitter Luis Duarte said. "It's just a matter of not letting down and winning the one-run games that could make the difference between a second and a sixth-place team."
Duke (17-9, 4-2) did not have a problem with a pesky Maryland team, which had beaten top-five teams FSU and Georgia Tech earlier this season. The Blue Devils overwhelmed their opponent with their usual offensive onslaught coupled with some quality pitching performances to easily win each game by at least five runs.
"It was a great accomplishment to sweep the series," outfielder/pitcher Ryan Jackson said. "The No. 1 and [No.] 2 teams in the nation couldn't sweep them but we did it at their park."
Friday's game was marked by an impressive complete game win from senior Josh Shipman and a 14-hit barrage from the Blue Devil bats in a 12-4 victory.
Shipman (2-1, 1-1 in the ACC) only gave up four runs, three of them earned, as he went the distance in what is known as a hitters' ballpark. Maryland's field is the smallest in the ACC.
The game also featured yet another home run by Jackson, extending his home run hitting streak to eight games. This equals the major league record for consecutive home run games, which is held by Don Mattingly and Ken Griffey Jr. Jackson hit 12 homers over the eight-game stretch.
Mike King also hit a home run, as he went 3-for-4 with three RBI. Scott Pinoni had three RBI as well, and Jeff Piscorik went 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored.
Saturday saw Jackson's home run streak come to an end, but he still went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI as Duke prevailed 12-5. He also picked up the win as a pitcher, going 6 1/3 innings while giving up four runs and striking out six.
"I couldn't expect [the streak] to go on forever," Jackson said.
The offense was led on Saturday by Pinoni (3-for-5, three runs, two RBI) and Piscorik (2-for-3, three runs scored). Pinoni, Frankie Chiou and Ray Farmer all delivered home runs.
After Jackson allowed a Maryland run in the seventh to close the Duke lead to 7-4, Scott Schoeneweis entered the game and struck out both batters he faced to squelch the Maryland rally. Barr then closed the game for the Blue Devils.
Schoeneweis returned to start Sunday's game and pick up the win, his fourth of the season against no losses.
"Schoeneweis' confidence is way up," Jackson said. "His strength is coming back and he's starting to get into mid-season form."
Jackson, Farmer, and King all hit home runs again in Sunday's game to lead the offense.
"We hit excellent and we pitched excellent this series," King said. "We pretty much put it together and played as a team for the whole series. We kept the intensity up and didn't let down at all."
The Blue Devils are going to have to keep the intensity up this week, as they play three games before travelling to Georgia Tech next weekend.
"People are gonna expect us to be swept by Georgia Tech," Duarte said. "We're still the underdogs in the ACC and we will be all season. But we can sneak up on anyone and play tough. We need to win these next three games so we have momentum going into Georgia Tech."
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