Duke moves 6 home games to Cary facility

The Duke baseball program announced Tuesday morning that six more of its games will be held at off-campus venues this season.

The Blue Devils were already scheduled to play 18 times at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park (DBAP) in downtown Durham, and the team’s 13 remaining home games were to be played at Jack Coombs Field, Duke’s traditional home on West Campus. However, six of those contests have now been moved to the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C., meaning that the Blue Devils will play only seven games on campus this year.

The most prominent series moved away from Jack Coombs Field is the April 16-18 series against ACC rival and national power Florida State. The three-game set with the Seminoles was scheduled to be the only ACC series held on campus. Florida State reached the NCAA Super Regionals last year.

The other contests moved away from Duke’s home field were Wednesday’s matchup with Xavier and a two-game homestand against Temple next week.

The seven teams that will still face the Blue Devils at Jack Coombs Field are all moderately local opponents from North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia, and all are visiting for just a single game. Those opponents include Davidson, Liberty and William & Mary.

While Jack Coombs Field is within walking distance of all West Campus dorms, DBAP requires students and fans to drive about five minutes to the stadium. The USA Baseball site in Cary, meanwhile, is located nearly 15 miles from the University.

Blue Devil players, coaches and administrators expressed excitement before the season about playing home games at DBAP, and Duke won its first three games there against Fordham last weekend. But it remains to be seen whether the move to the new ballparks spurs greater attendance, especially from students, or depresses it even further.