A storm is rising in the Sunshine State as the baseball team travels to Miami to take on the third-ranked Hurricanes.
Duke (27-16, 8-12 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) and Miami (29-13) will kick off the weekend series Friday at 7 p.m. in Mark Light Stadium. Games two and three will take place on Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. in the same location.
The Hurricanes have won six of their last seven games and 10 of their last 11 contests against ACC teams. Last weekend they swept No. 2 Georgia Tech, outscoring the Yellow Jackets 31-5 in the three-game set. In the final game of the series, Miami dealt the perennial baseball power its first shutout in over two years, blanking Tech 12-0.
"I don't know if anybody's ready for Miami," Duke coach Steve Traylor said. "When you put Miami in that league with Clemson, LSU and Florida State, you've got the cream of the crop for the last 20 years in college baseball.... they are going to be putting first- and second-round draft choices at every position.
"They are going to have a pitching staff of 12 guys, and probably three-quarters of them throw 90 miles per hour and have great location. They are all pro prospects. They bring great junior college players in, and they just keep reloading. The guys that are second and third string for them can play for anybody in the country and be impact players. They have nothing but quality players."
The Hurricanes will start senior left-hander J.D. Arteaga on the mound on Friday. Arteaga, a third-team All-American in 1996, leads Miami with 64 strikeouts and has compiled a 6-3 record and a 2.94 ERA this season.
Sophomore right-hander Darin Spassoff (6-3, 3.84 ERA) will step up to the mound for Miami on Saturday and freshman right-hander Alex Santos (6-1, 3.15 ERA) will start for the Hurricanes on Sunday. Santos has held opposing batters to a .211 batting average. His stinginess may be an especially challenging obstacle for Duke to overcome, as the Blue Devils have relied mainly on their offense of late.
Heading up Miami's relief corps is sophomore right-hander Robbie Morrison. The first-team All-American, who began his season as a starter, leads the Hurricanes in ERA-posting a 1.41 mark-and in saves, with five.
The Hurricanes possess a multitude of potent bats, the most formidable of which rests in the hands of sophomore third baseman Pat Burrell. Last year's National Freshman of the Year, Burrell became the first freshman ever to lead the NCAA in hitting. This year he is first on the Miami roster in batting average (.462), home runs (14), RBI (51) and hits (60). Burrell, a first-team All-American, also leads the Hurricanes in on-base percentage (.622), runs scored (52), extra-base hits (29) and base on balls (51) and is on a pace to set new NCAA career records in batting average and slugging percentage.
"Burrell is one of the great, great players in America," Traylor said. "They've got great team speed, everybody up and down the line hits with authority. All their pitchers are good-there's not a weakness on the team."
Burrell is far from being the Hurricanes' only threat at the plate, though. Junior right fielder Jason Michaels and senior center fielder Ryan Grimmett both have the ability to round the bases with lightning speed. Michaels has tallied 21 doubles and three triples on the season, the highest on the team. Grimmett is Miami's biggest threat on the basepaths, having stolen 39 bases so far this season.
If the Blue Devils are to emerge victorious in one of their greatest tests so far this season, they believe that they will need to revitalize a diminished pitching squad, especially in middle relief. Junior southpaw Clayton Connor will start for Duke on Friday, right-hander Stephen Cowie will start Saturday and freshman righty Brad Dupree will start Sunday. Duke's best pitching hopes for the weekend probably lie in Connor; the junior posts Duke's lowest earned-run average, with a 1.69 ERA.
"It's not real good with the way we're pitching middle relief with some of those guys," Traylor said. "We've got to put them out there, and they've got to do the job for us. We're not able to hold anybody down-we're thin. These guys that are getting a chance to pitch are going to have to pitch better than they pitched [Wednesday], and better than they pitched against Maryland."
Freshman Chris Capuano, who garnered Wednesday's win over Davidson, will rest over the weekend. Freshman Vaughn Schill, who has a tender elbow, and senior Richard Dishman, will travel to Miami but will probably not pitch.
Duke will enter the series hoping to continue an offensive upswing after breaking out of a hitting slump Wednesday afternoon in beating Davidson, 12-9. Schill, who also plays shortstop, is the only Blue Devil with a batting average over .400, compiling a .414 average, 46 runs and 75 hits. Sophomore third baseman Jeff Becker leads Duke in home runs and RBI, with eight and 49, respectively.
Senior Randy Goodroe and junior Adam Geis have also come into their own at the plate recently. On Wednesday, Goodroe collected five RBI, while Geis notched three RBI and three runs. If they can continue their prolific hitting streaks, and the rest of Duke's offense can match their recent level of intensity, the Blue Devils think they have the potential to escape from the Hurricanes unscathed.
"We're going to have to play our best baseball to win down at Miami," freshman Ed Conrey said. "If we have the combination of good pitching and good hitting, I think anything can happen down there."
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