Duke focuses on defense to stop 4-game slide

Despite four straight losses and a 2-5 start to his Duke career, first-year head coach Sean McNally isn't panicking.

"It's a 56-game schedule and we're seven games in," McNally said. "With four or five games every week, we can get right back in it."

That process starts this weekend when the Blue Devils host Radford (0-3) in a three-game series at Jack Coombs Field. The teams play Friday at 3 p.m., then play 1 p.m. games on Saturday and Sunday.

The biggest problems for Duke during its current slide have been surrendering big innings and fielding poorly. Blue Devil pitchers have allowed four or more runs in an inning five times in the last two games alone. The inability to stop their opponents' offensive momentum has been due in part to six Blue Devil errors in those two losses.

"More than anything else, we need to do a good job of catching the ball and throwing the ball over the plate and making them earn it," McNally said. "It's consistency."

To that end, Duke will send junior Danny Otero (1-0) and freshman Andrew Wolcott (0-0) to the mound for the first two games of the series. Both will be making their first starts of the year, although each has been productive in relief. The duo has not given up an earned run in a combined eight and two-thirds innings this season.

The Blue Devils' offense, meanwhile, has started to produce behind the surprising contributions of freshmen Tim Sherlock and Matt Williams. Sherlock has homered in two consecutive games while Williams went 4-for-4 in Wednesday's loss to Elon.

"It's nice to see them be productive in their first few games," McNally said. "I can't overstate how difficult it is to make the adjustment from high school to college. They're off to a good start."