Looking at Duke’s weekend series with No. 7 Florida State from an MLB alumni perspective, the Seminoles would win by a landslide. Buster Posey, J.D. Drew and Deion Sanders headline a list of 63 Florida State players who have cracked major league rosters. By contrast, Duke’s most prominent baseball alumni include Dick Groat, Chris Capuano and Quinton McCracken.
Although the games will be played on the field and not on paper, Duke (21-14, 8-7 in the ACC) will likely still need heroic efforts from its starting pitchers and a continuation of its recent offensive outburst to hang with the Seminoles (27-6, 10-5) at Dick Howser Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla. this weekend.
“It’s a fun opportunity for our kids,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. “This is why you go play baseball in the ACC, to have the opportunity to go play against teams like Florida State.”
After plating just six runs against then-No. 15 Georgia Tech in the entirety of last weekend’s series, Duke’s offense exploded in its two games this week. The Blue Devils tallied 17 runs on 18 hits in Tuesday’s win against UNC Greensboro and followed that up the next day with 12 hits in an 8-3 victory against N.C. Central. Sophomores Andy Perez and Grant McCabe combined for seven of Duke’s 12 hits against N.C. Central. Junior Mark Lumpa extended his hitting streak to six games with a pair of hits.
Pollard credited hitting coach Mark Hayes with helping Duke make in-game adjustments, noting that its increased offensive production has taken pressure off the team.
“We’ve had some big innings and put some crooked numbers on the board, which has relaxed our pitching and defense because they know they don’t have to be perfect,” Pollard said. “We can score runs.”
Offense may be harder to come by for the Blue Devils against the Seminoles, who boast a dominant pitching staff. Collectively, the Florida State rotation has a gaudy 2.61 ERA. Sophomore right-hander Luke Weaver—who is 3-0 on the year with a 1.42 ERA and leads the team with 45 strikeouts—will open the series for the Seminoles. Florida State has not posted its starters for the other two games, but Pollard suspects that the Blue Devils will face sophomore Brandon Leibrandt Saturday and senior Scott Sitz Sunday. Sitz, a senior righty, is the ace of the staff, with an unblemished 6-0 record and a 0.57 ERA in 47 innings.
“They’ve had a lot of [pitchers] step up,” Pollard said. “They’ve juggled their rotation a few times this season, and it seems that they’ve been right every time they’ve done it. That’s a credit to [head coach Mike] Martin and his staff.”
If the Blue Devils can’t score on the Florida State starters and take a lead into the late innings, rallying could be a problem. The Seminole closer, junior Robby Coles, has seven saves on the year with a 0.87 ERA.
Duke will roll out its usual trio of weekend starters—sophomore Trent Swart and junior Drew Van Orden and Robert Huber. The threesome has been prolific in their own right of late, giving up just two runs in three games last weekend against Georgia Tech.
Containing a balanced Florida State offensive juggernaut will not be easy, as the Seminoles average about seven runs per game. Junior Marcus Davis, a junior college transfer, is the Seminoles’ leading power threat with five homers on the year. Freshman DJ Stewart and redshirt junior Stephen McGee also present dangerous matchups for the Blue Devils—each has four homers and a batting average over .300.
The Blue Devils have shown that they are not intimidated by highly-ranked opponents this season. Duke bested then-No.13 Florida in its season opener and took two out of three games from then-No.24 Miami and Georgia Tech.
Florida State sits atop the ACC’s Atlantic Division, while Duke is in fourth place in the Coastal. But Pollard said his team’s confidence will make the weekend series a very exciting affair.
“I think one of the cool things about [the series] is that it’s meaningful,” Pollard said. “Both teams are coming into [the weekend] playing well and playing with confidence. [Florida State is] one of the best atmospheres in college baseball.”
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