If Sunday was St. Patrick's Day, then Wednesday was Brian Patrick's day.
Patrick, a junior rightfielder/pitcher for the Blue Devils, bashed a three-run home run to right-centerfield in the bottom of the sixth inning, giving Duke (14-7) an 8-6 lead over visiting Campbell (9-11), a margin that grew to 11-6 by game's end at historic Jack Coombs Field.
Patrick's big knock was especially meaningful to him because he had been unable to clean up the mess left by Duke pitchers Zach Schreiber and Kevin Perry when he was moved from the outfield to the pitching mound with one out in the sixth inning. Facing a bases-loaded situation, Patrick sacrificed four runs in the top of the sixth, giving the Camels their first advantage of the night, a lead that was short-lived.
"A lot of times, pitchers don't get a chance to come out there and work their mistakes out. I was just looking to take advantage of a fastball," Patrick said of his redemption in the bottom of the sixth.
Before Patrick sealed Duke's victory with his mammoth shot, a number of other Blue Devils chipped in to gain an early lead over Campbell. In the bottom of the first inning, catcher Troy Caradonna swatted a sacrifice fly to left field with one out, scoring third baseman Aaron Kempster, who had nailed a single to right field in the Blue Devils' second at-bat of the game.
Campbell struck back in the top of the second when 6-foot-5, 220-pound designated hitter Josh Cotten slammed a triple to centerfield and was driven home on a double to left field by shortstop David Barrows to tie the score at 1-1.
After two-and-a-half scoreless innings, the Blue Devils retook the lead when shortstop Kevin Kelly, who leads Duke in batting average, slugging percentage, runs and hits, took a 2-1 pitch by Campbell's Matt Kleweno deep to right field to give the home team a 2-1 edge heading into the fifth.
After the Duke and Campbell rallies in the sixth inning, the Blue Devils added one run in the seventh on a triple by first baseman Larry Broadway, which scored Kempster. In the eighth, Duke tacked on three more insurance runs to secure the necessary breathing room for pitcher Greg Burke to close out the Camels.
"That's a good win. All of them are good at this point, especially with where we've been the last couple of years," Duke coach Bill Hillier said. "We approach every game right now [with the mindset that] none are more important than the other ones, no matter who were playing."
Last year, the Camels beat the Blue Devils by a lopsided 7-0, a far cry from this year's Duke rout. But standing with twice as many wins as losses heading into their conference slate, the Blue Devils hold high hopes for the ACC season.
Duke's quest for its best ACC season in recent years begins Friday, when UVa travels to Durham for a three-game set.
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