Before yesterday, the last time Duke swept a conference series was a week after the basketball team fell 79-78 to Connecticut in the 2004 Final Four.
But the Blue Devils (11-14, 4-5 in the ACC) changed that with a 5-3 win Sunday at English Field in Blacksburg, Va. against Virginia Tech. Duke won the first two games of the series 5-3 and 13-0, respectively The conference sweep was also the first for the Blue Devils under head coach Sean McNally.
“Everything really clicked this weekend,” McNally. “We’ve been waiting for our offense to break out, and with two strikes our guys were really competitive. We were grinding a lot with two strikes, we got a lot of two-out hits, and two-out RBIs. We scored 23 runs in three games—it was really a breakout weekend.”
The Blue Devils jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second after designated hitter Matt Berezo knocked in two runs on a two-out single. Berezo moved to third on a hit-and-run single and scored while Anthony LaBruna purposely got caught between first and second base to draw the defense’s attention.
Aaron Cohn led off the top of the seventh with an infield single, before Jordan Betts broke open what was a 3-2 game in the seventh with his second home run of the year—an “important” home run, according to McNally.
Robert Huber struck out three and allowed two earned runs in five innings on the mound as he improved his record to 3-3. Drew Van Orden pitched the sixth and David Putnam took care of the seventh, eighth and ninth to get the save.
Marcus Stroman picked up the win Friday, after throwing a season-high eight innings. The junior right-hander notched eight strikeouts while issuing just one walk before freshman Andrew Istler closed out the victory with a perfect ninth, recording his third save of the season.
Freshman Trent Swart dominated the Hokie hitters Saturday for 7.2 innings before lightning forced the game to be suspended until Sunday. The southpaw struck out seven and allowed just six runners to reach base—only two in scoring position.
“Everyone pounded the zone,” catcher Mike Rosenfeld said. “[The pitching staff] threw all pitches in all counts and weren’t afraid to attack hitters. I would have thought [the rain] would have had a negative effect on the pitchers, but I think it brought the best out of all of us.”
The Blue Devil bats gave Swart more than enough run support in the 13-0 thrashing. The first four hitters in the lineup went a combined 12-for-19 on the day, including centerfielder Will Piwnica-Worms, who went 4-for-5 with a career-high five RBIs and added his third home run of the season.
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