Duke won its first road game and its first conference series of the season over the weekend, taking two of three from Boston College at Campanelli Stadium. The Blue Devils (10-23, 3-9 in the ACC) won the rubber game of the series Sunday afternoon, 14-7, behind two home runs from freshman Nate Freiman.
"I feel good for our players to win an ACC series and to also do it on the road," head coach Sean McNally said. "Those are two good things right there. All three games were very different types of games, and to get two of them was very good for us."
Duke got off to a quick start Sunday, scoring five times in the first two innings to grab control of the game. Freshman catcher Matt Williams drove in a first-inning run with a double, while Jonathan Nicolla's solo homer and Freiman's two-run shot to right center field highlighted a four-run second.
Boston College (15-12-1, 4-8) cut the lead to three on multiple occasions, only to see Duke respond each time. The Blue Devils scored twice in the sixth to push the lead back to 8-3 and twice more in the eighth to make it 11-6.
Shortstop Brett Bartles drove in five runs on the day, including a two-run homer in the ninth to extend the Duke advantage to 13-7. Freiman followed it up with his second bomb of the day, a solo shot to center that capped the day's scoring.
Jonathan Anderson (2-3) pitched the first six and one-third innings for the Blue Devils to pick up the win. Nate Jeanes (1-2) took the loss for Boston College, surrendering six runs in four innings.
Sunday's slugfest followed a 15-4 Boston College romp Saturday and a 16-inning pitcher's duel Friday, won by Duke, 6-3.
The Blue Devils truly earned their first road win of the season Friday, coming back to win after the Eagles had rallied to tie the game at three in the bottom of the ninth.
Duke finally broke the 3-3 tie in the top of the 16th when freshman Tim Sherlock scored on a wild pitch. After Javier Socorro walked, sophomore Jimmy Gallagher provided the Blue Devils with some insurance with a two-run blast through a stiff wind.
"When you get that late in the game, often times if you can get a couple runs to separate, that's what you need," McNally said.
Ryan Perry (1-0) shut down the Eagles in the bottom of the frame to preserve the dramatic victory and to cap one of Duke's best pitching performances of the year.
Junior Danny Otero started for the Blue Devils and pitched the first 10 innings, allowing only three runs on seven hits, while fanning seven Eagles. Freshman Andrew Wolcott threw four and two-thirds scoreless frames before yielding to Perry in the 15th.
Friday's win halted a nine-game losing streak and ended a three-week span in which Duke had dropped 12 of its last 13 games.
"[Friday's] the kind of game that's important," McNally said. "We played 16 innings in game one and to play the way we did-we really caught the ball well under a lot of pressure-to come out and win it was important."
The return of Nate Freiman, a Massachusetts native, ignited the offense. The freshman designated hitter, who had missed a total of 27 games with an injury, hit three home runs in the series.
"Nate Freiman really had a great series, especially coming back," McNally said. "He hadn't had that much time off, but he didn't show too many signs of rust. As a freshman and also back at home where he's from, to come out and have an impact for our lineup was great. I think definitely our guys fed off having somebody have that much success in our lineup-it kind of got everybody going."
Duke will look to ride the momentum from its first two road wins of the season into High Point for a single game Wednesday before the Blue Devils host Virginia for a three-game set next weekend.
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