Head coach Bill Hillier was clear in his comments after each of the baseball team’s three losses to Cincinnati Feb. 18 to 20.
“We’re not doing the little things,” Hillier said after one of the losses. “And unless you have an explosive offense and can just go and blow people out, if you want to win, you have to do the little things well.”
Duke (4-5) will have another chance to pay attention to the details this weekend in a three-game series with Army (0-3) at Jack Coombs Field. After suffering a three-game sweep by the College of Charleston, the Black Knights come to Durham for the teams’ first series since 1940.
Army earned a berth in the NCAA Tournament last season, setting the Patriot League record for conference victories in a season with 17. The team returns six of eight positional starters and nine of its 11 top pitchers, including three of its four top starters, from a staff that finished 12th nationally in team ERA last season.
Against such a deep and talented staff, the series will likely feature close games in which the Blue Devils will need to make more key plays than they have their last few times out.
Despite collecting two more hits and allowing one fewer earned runs than Cincinnati over the course of the weekend, Duke still managed to drop all three games. The team surrendered 11 unearned runs and committed five errors over the course of the weekend.
Against Elon Feb. 23 in a game that was called because of darkness with the score tied after the ninth inning, the trend continued as the Blue Devils allowed another unearned run, committing two errors in the game.
The Blue Devils will likely pitch their usual weekend rotation of Danny Otero, David Torcise and Greg Burke against the Black Knights’ pitching trio of Justin Kashner, Dan Cappello and 2004 Patriot League Pitcher of the Year Nick Hill. The three Blue Devil starters are allowing opponents just a .234 batting average and have a combined ERA of 3.14.
Infielder Brett Bartles will look to continue his nine-game hitting streak; the freshman is batting at team-leading .531 and also paces the team in on-base percentage, RBI and hits. The team is batting .302, good for fifth in the conference, and features four players with batting averages of .333 or better—infielders Bartles, Adam Murray and Bryan Smith as well as catcher/DH Eric Baumann.
The Black Knights’ offense is lead by catcher Schuyler Williamson, last season’s Patriot League Player of the Year. The senior batted .357 last season with nine home runs and 48 RBI. Although Duke’s base-stealing has been near perfect this season, succeeding on four of five steal attempts, the Blue Devils will be contending with a defensive force over the weekend—Williamson threw out 44 percent of would-be base-stealers last season.
Second baseman Nate Stone is the other anchor of the Army offense. He batted .414 last season and knocked in 53 runs, earning third-team All-America honors from the American Baseball Coaches Association.
A freshman All-American from a year ago, Milan Dinga is the leadoff hitter and spark-plug for Army. He batted .323 last season and scored 51 runs while also pitching out of the bullpen as the Black Knights’ closer.
Despite its success from last season, Army has opened the season with some disappointment, losing by wide margins in its first three games. Black Knight coach Joe Sottolano has cited a lack of mental focus as the reason for his team’s early season losses.
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