After allowing 37 runs in a three-game weekend sweep against Virginia, it was the Blue Devils' bats that allowed the team to bounce back.
Duke (26-26) finished its nonconference schedule on a high note Tuesday evening, outperforming UNC-Greensboro (22-30) in all facets of the game to earn a 12-2 road win at UNCG Baseball Stadium in Greensboro, N.C.
Four Blue Devils pitchers helped to spark the team's blowout victory. James Marvel, Drew Van Orden, Sarkis Ohanian and Michael Matuella yielded just seven hits and two runs against a usually-potent Spartan offense.
“We pitched well, Marvel gave us quality innings and we were effective out of the bullpen,” Blue Devil head coach Chris Pollard said.
A freshman right-hander, Marvel opened the game with three solid innings of work, allowing one run on three hits. He was replaced by junior Drew Van Orden, who picked up the win for Duke, his third of the season. The 6-foot-4 righty scattered four hits over three innings and allowed one run.
Ohanian, a sophomore, relieved Van Orden and pitched two hitless innings and tallied a pair of strikeouts before giving way to the freshman Matuella, who dispatched the Spartans with a one-two-three ninth frame.
Coming into Tuesday’s action, UNC-Greensboro was hitting .309 as a team. The Spartans had collectively tallied 165 extra base hits and had scored 337 runs. First baseman Trevor Edwards, UNC-Greensboro’s most dangerous hitter with 12 homers on the year, went hitless in four at-bats.
The Duke offense provided the pitching staff a sizeable cushion. The Blue Devils drew first blood with a single run in the top of the third, then broke open the game by scoring three runs in the fifth, two runs in the sixth, three runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth.
“I think that was as good as we’ve swung the bats all year,” Pollard said. “Our situational hitting was very good, and we were very opportunistic on offense.”
Sophomore Andy Perez and junior Mark Lumpa were the catalysts for the Blue Devil offense. The pair, occupying the top two spots in the Duke batting order, did their job to set the table for the power hitters that followed them. Each player had four hits, combining for almost half of the club’s 17 hits.
The meat of the Duke lineup did their job as well, capitalizing on run-scoring opportunities. First baseman Chris Marconcini knocked in three runs, and third baseman Jordan Betts drove in two. Lumpa had three RBIs of his own, and Perez scored three times. Right fielder Jeff Kremer added two hits, an RBI and three runs scored for the Blue Devils from the third spot in the order.
Marconcini notched his fourth triple of the year as part of a three-run seventh inning. The redshirt sophomore bookended that hit with two sacrifice flies.
Duke also got a contribution out of the eighth spot in the batting order, as catcher Ryan Munger notched two hits and scored two runs. Pollard said the senior made hard contact all night long, despite having only two hits to show for it.
The Blue Devils will close out regular season play with a home series against in-state foe N.C. State. Duke will host the No. 8 Wolfpack at Durham Bulls Athletic Park for games Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
Sophomore Trent Swart, senior Robert Huber and Matuella will be the weekend starters for Duke, but Pollard said he had not yet decided the rotation’s order.
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