Opening day in the major leagues is a time when hope springs eternal, and all teams can, at least for a short while, dream. While the majors may have kicked off the season last week, Duke's baseball team has been playing for months, and the well of hope has run dry.
For the third straight weekend, the Blue Devils faced off against an ACC opponent, and for the third straight weekend, the team emerged winless. After suffering sweeps at the hands of Virginia and Wake Forest, Duke was again unable to take a single game in this weekend's three-game series against red-hot North Carolina State at Jack Coombs Field.
The 15th-ranked Wolfpack (27-7, 7-2 ACC) defeated the slumping Blue Devils 9-6 Friday, 16-3 Saturday, and 11-4 Sunday in sending Duke (13-19, 0-8) to its sixth consecutive loss and 10th in the past 11 games.
"N.C. State is the best team we've played," coach Bill Hillier said. "[At the same time], we didn't play very good baseball. [But] we're not going to make excuses. We just need to play better fundamental baseball."
Following Saturday's drubbing, the finale on Sunday shaped up as a far closer match. However, big innings in the fourth and eighth propelled the Wolfpack to a comfortable 11-4 victory. Vern Sterry, N.C. State's ace starting pitcher, shut down the Blue Devils following a shaky start in outdueling Duke starter Kevin Thompson.
In the eighth, after a Brian Patrick double and Tim Layden RBI single cut the lead to 7-4, the Wolfpack put the game out of reach with four runs on some sloppy Duke defense.
N.C. State had only three hits, but was helped by three walks, three wild pitches, and a balk.
Duke jumped out to a 3-2 lead in the third, when Tim Layden hit an RBI single and Brian Patrick crossed the plate after N.C. State's catcher, Colt Morton, threw the ball into centerfield trying to nab Layden stealing.
The Blue Devil lead was short-lived, however. The first batter in the top of the fourth, Justin Riley, deposited a hanging 1-2 curveball far beyond the leftfield fence for his fourth home run in three days. The very next batter, cleanup hitter Colt Morton, sent a low fastball about ten feet to the left of where Riley's landed for back-to-back home runs. And with that, the Wolfpack emphatically took a lead they would never relinquish.
In Saturday's game, the Wolfpack battered Duke's pitching for 19 hits, and starting pitcher Nate Cretarolo allowed only three runs in eight innings as N.C. State routed the Blue Devils. Justin Riley led the way with a home run and two doubles, and David Hicks chipped in with five hits, including two doubles, and four runs batted in.
Friday, Riley's two home runs paced the Wolfpack, and starting pitcher Michael Rogers survived Duke's five run third inning to earn the 9-6 victory.
"We're in the cellar [of the ACC], and there's one of two things we can do," coach Bill Hillier said. "We can either quit, make excuses, and whine about things, or we can come out and work harder and start executing a little better."
The Blue Devils host No. 8 Georgia Tech next weekend, and if they don't start executing better, they will be hard-pressed to avoid their fourth consecutive series sweep.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.