The battle needed extra innings to be decided, and the Blue Devils came within inches of coming back to beat Pittsburgh but couldn’t quite complete the rally.
Panther left fielder Jacob Wright threw out Andy Perez at the plate with two outs in the 10th inning to end the game as the Panthers defeated Duke 4-3 in 10 innings Saturday at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. First baseman Nick Yarnall drilled a two-run home run over the right-center field wall off reliever Kenny Koplove in the top of the 10th for his second home run of the day to power the Pittsburgh offense.
“It’s a tough one [to lose],” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. “You have to scrape yourself up off the mat, but it hurt. It stings, you're so close, you feel like you’re right there and you get victory snatched away from you a couple times.”
The Blue Devils (17-6, 3-5 in the ACC) had their chance in the bottom half of the inning, though.
After right fielder Peter Zyla flew out and Koplove fouled out to third base, left fielder Jalen Phillips slapped a double into the right-center field gap to keep Duke’s hopes alive. Second baseman Andy Perez became the tying run when the following pitch hit him and pinch-hitter Grant McCabe became the winning run after he drew a walk.
Redshirt freshman and Duke football player Johnathan Lloyd came in to pinch run for McCabe and with the bases loaded, two outs and the game on the line, freshman Evan Dougherty came to the plate for his first at bat of the contest after pinch-running for center fielder Michael Smiciklas the previous inning.
Dougherty slipped the second pitch of the at bat between third baseman and shortstop allowing Phillips to score. Third base coach Mark Hayes waved Perez home as Wright fielded the ball, and he delivered a strike to home plate. Perez attempted to dive out of the way of Pittsburgh catcher Manny Pazos’ glove, but the glove still caught Perez across the chest to end the game.
“From a fan’s perspective it was a heck of a ballgame,” Pollard said. “Give Pitt a lot of credit—they never gave in…. But credit our team [too], there’s no quit in these guys.”
The Blue Devils were gifted a chance to end the game in the bottom of the ninth but couldn’t quite push the winning run across.
Smiciklas led off the inning with a single to right field and was immediately replaced by Dougherty. After catcher Cris Perez struck out swinging and with two strikes on first baseman Justin Bellinger, pitcher Hobie Harris attempted to pick off Dougherty at first. But the ball skidded away from Yarnall at first base toward the Panther bullpen, allowing Dougherty to get all the way to third.
On the next pitch, Bellinger struck out swinging on a ball in the dirt, and the ball trickled away from Pazos behind the plate. Dougherty took off for home to try and steal the win. But the catcher recovered in time to flip the ball to a waiting Harris, who tagged Dougherty out at the plate just in time. Bellinger advanced to first on the play, but designated hitter Jack Labosky flew out to end the inning and the threat.
Pittsburgh (10-11, 4-4) scored all of its runs via the long ball Saturday.
Redshirt freshman Frank Maldonado led off the top of the fifth inning by crushing a bomb over the left field wall, just below the bull sign erected on the terrace overlooking the field. Yarnall followed up the next inning by drilling a line drive just over the right field wall.
The Blue Devils continued to fight back each time Pittsburgh took the lead. In the bottom of the fifth, Labosky led off with a walk and advanced to third after a pair of groundouts. With two outs, Phillips slashed a ball to right field, bringing Labosky home and knotting the score 1-1.
Not to be outdone by Pittsburgh’s show of power, Cris Perez led off the bottom half of the seventh with a solo blast of his own to center field—just to the right of the monstrous left field wall—and brought Duke level again. Unfortunately for the Blue Devils, that was the last time they would be able to score until the 10th.
Senior Andrew Istler tossed 6.1 innings, striking out a career-high 12 batters and surrendering five hits, one walk and the pair of solo home runs.
“[We] gave ourselves a chance in the end there,” Istler said. “It’s a tough loss. We were inches away in the ninth and then inches away from tying it in the 10th. Baseball is a game of inches.”
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