With its weekend series against No. 15 Georgia Tech coming down to the final game, Duke decided that it needed an extra boost to stay loose and snag the series victory against the Yellow Jackets. So, at the request of the upperclassmen, the songs of Michael Jackson replaced the team’s usual walk-up music, allowing the Blue Devils to win game three and a thriller of a series.
“I didn’t know anything about the music until the game started,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. “It was an effort to make everyone loose, and obviously… it worked.”
Even without the King of Pop’s help, the Blue Devils (19-14, 8-7 in the ACC) set the tone in game one with a 2-0 victory. Duke starter Trent Swart pitched eight shutout innings, blanking the Yellow Jackets for the first time since Feb. 17, 2012. Georgia Tech (23-9, 9-6) came into the series boasting one of the ACC’s most potent offenses, leading the conference in batting average, home runs and slugging percentage, but Swart and sophomore closer Andrew Istler tore through the lineup, scattering only seven hits throughout the game.
“The way [Swart] came out and threw the ball in the first eight innings of game one set the tone for the whole weekend,” Pollard said. “You hear a lot about their club and how good they are offensively coming into the weekend, and for him to go out and pitch the way he did gave our staff confidence that we can have success against these guys if we execute.”
The Blue Devils got another command pitching performance in game two from starter Drew Van Orden. The junior held the Yellow Jackets to three hits over six innings of one-run ball. Offensively, Duke struck early when senior catcher Ryan Munger singled home freshman shortstop Kenny Koplove in the bottom of the second inning. Georgia Tech, however, responded immediately in the top of the third, when catcher Zane Evans singled home third baseman Sam Dove.
The game remained locked at 1-1 until the top of the eighth. After freshman Michael Matuella relieved Van Orden with a scoreless seventh of his own, Istler took his place on the mound to face the meat of the Yellow Jacket lineup. Right fielder Daniel Palka led off the inning with a double to right-center field, which was followed by Evans being walked. With two outs, two strikes and men on the corners, Istler gave up a single to designated hitter Thomas Smith, which scored Palka and gave Georgia Tech the lead. Despite Duke center fielder Grant McCabe reaching second base in the Blue Devils’ half of the ninth, Duke was unable to score and relinquished game two to the Yellow Jackets.
“It was a very evenly played baseball game,” Pollard said. “It took a two-out, two-strike single in the eighth to make a difference. But to hold a team like Georgia Tech to two runs… speaks volumes to the job that [our staff] is doing.”
The series came down to game three, with junior Robert Huber starting for Duke. Huber, however, quickly calmed the nerves of the near-capacity crowd at Jack Coombs Field by one-upping both Swart and Van Orden. Huber pitched his second straight complete-game shutout while surrendering five Yellow Jacket hits and only one walk through nine brilliant innings.
“Everything was working off my fastball today,” Huber said. “It’s a testament to the fact that if you pitch off your fastball, you’ll have success. Every pitcher this weekend had success off their fastball. We were able to limit the damage when they got on and that was the difference.”
Huber received run support early from the offense, which got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first. Second baseman Andy Perez led off with a triple, and scored after right fielder Jeff Kremer hit a sacrifice fly to left field. Then, in the second inning, catcher Reed Anthes led off with a single and was soon knocked home by another Perez triple. Anthes singled again in the sixth to score left fielder Mark Lumpa to finish up a 2-for-4 day.
Perez hit .454 overall against Georgia Tech. His head coach attributed the second baseman’s success to Duke’s bold musical selection. “I think Andy Perez needs to stay with the Michael Jackson walk-up music for the rest of the year,” Pollard said.
The story of the weekend, however, was the pitching. Duke’s pitchers held Georgia Tech to only two runs in 27 innings. Before this series, the Yellow Jackets hadn’t scored fewer than 18 runs in a three-game series this season. The performances of the Blue Devils on the mound, especially against an offensive juggernaut like the Georgia Tech, bode well for the team as Duke enters the second half of the season.
“We’re proud that, at the halfway point, we’ve put ourselves in a very competitive position moving forward,” Pollard said. “But we can’t be fast-forwarding too far off in the distance. I think one of the things these guys have done a really good job of is just focusing in on the task at hand and that’s the way we need to keep attacking things.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.