The baseball team probably needed a morale boost after getting victimized by a East Carolina no-hitter.
Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, Arizona State was the next opponent on Duke's schedule.
In a decidedly one-sided three-game set, the 22nd-ranked Sun Devils (11-2) hammered Duke (1-5) in blistering fashion, 12-0, 7-1 and 10-1 at Packard Stadium in Tempe, Ariz.
Friday's contest gave both teams a glimpse of what was in store for the weekend. That game was over almost from the moment it began. In the bottom half of the first inning, Duke starter Pat Hannaway game up six runs in only a third of an inning pitched.
The inning opened when Hannaway hit lead-off batter Jonah Mason. Hannaway gave up a single, and then a two-run double to Casey Myers. The Sun Devils added a two-run single from Brooks Conrad and an RBI double from Jeff Phelps to take a 6-0 lead.
Jeff Alleva came in to get the Blue Devils out of the first. But like Hannaway, he had a less-than-successful outing. Alleva gave up a home run to Mitch Jones and a two-run double to Phelps in the second inning to give ASU a 9-0 lead.
Duke mustered only three hits in the game as the Sun Devils added three more runs to take the victory.
The second game of the series was not a tremendous improvement. Again, the Sun Devils struck early before going on to an easy victory.
ASU scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning on a Myers double to right field.
Starter Ryan Caradonna kept the Sun Devils off the scoreboard for the next two innings, but they struck again in the fourth. Jones knocked a two-run homer over the rightfield bleachers, and Dennis Wyrick had an RBI double to put ASU up 5-0.
Duke netted its only run of the game in the sixth inning on a Troy Caradonna RBI single.
But Brendan Hines hit a two-run homer in the eighth to seal the win.
Sunday proved to be a mere retelling of the script from the first two games. The Sun Devils drilled Duke starter Steve Schroeder for four runs in the opening frame and took a 9-0 lead into the seventh inning.
The Blue Devils pushed across their only run on rightfielder Doug Bechtold's RBI single that plated Wes Goodner in the seventh.
Jones completed his feast on Duke pitching by belting his third round-tripper of the series and ninth of the season.
Continuing a disturbing trend from last week, opposing pitchers have had absolutely no problem keeping Duke hitters at bay. For the series, ASU pitcher held Duke to just 13 hits and two runs in 27 innings, and struck out 27 Blue Devils.
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