Early offense continues to pave the way for the Blue Devils' success.
Duke pushed across two runs in the first and fifth innings and added three more in the sixth as the Blue Devils topped Bryant 7-4 at Jack Coombs Field Wednesday. The Bulldogs made things interesting with a three-run eighth and threatened to put together an even bigger inning, but junior Kenny Koplove worked out of a bases-loaded jam to get his team back in the dugout.
"We needed every run today. We knew that we were facing a very good offensive club, we felt like it was the best offensive team we had played this year," Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. "You knew at some point in the game they were going to break out and have a big inning and get their runs.
For the third time in as many games, the Blue Devils (13-3) drew first blood. Returning to the lineup after not starting Tuesday against Yale for the first time all year, redshirt sophomore Jalen Phillips squeezed a shot between first baseman Robby Rinn and the first base line, ending up on second with a one-out double. The left fielder won the lefty-lefty matchup with Bryant starter Justin Snyder to set the table for Duke.
"When I go up to the plate and I see lefties, I try not to think too much," Phillips said. "I try to take it the same versus righty or lefty and I just try to stay inside the baseball. I threw my hands and got a good piece to get everything going."
Phillips advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a fielder's choice, as center fielder Evan Dougherty hit a ground ball to third and collided with Rinn as the throw from across the diamond sailed wide.
Shaken up on the play, Dougherty left the game with what Pollard described as a hip pointer. Redshirt junior Cameron Neal replaced him on first and promptly stole second to get into scoring position. Putting Neal in motion promptly paid off, as designated hitter Cris Perez brought him home with a single, the sophomore's team-leading 17th RBI of the season.
"It's huge defensively, it's huge for our pitchers to come out and pitch with confidence," Koplove said of the fast start. "They're able to just attack the zone and trust their defense. That's really a testament to our offense, getting out there and having the mindset to try to get on the board early."
Southpaw Mitch Stallings breezed through the top of the first, needing just nine pitches to retire the Bulldogs (2-9), but ran into trouble in the top of the second. Bryant loaded the bases with two outs but the freshman coaxed a groundout to escape the jam unscathed and pick up a shutdown inning.
Stallings set down the Bulldogs in order again in the third before losing some of his command in the fourth. Bryant third baseman John Mullen doubled on the first pitch and advanced to third after Stallings' pickoff attempt trickled into center field. A single from Rinn plated Mullen, and a walk ended the afternoon on the mound for the Atlanta native after 3.2 innings.
Senior Sarkis Ohanian relieved Stallings and induced a ground ball to end the scoring threat. The Boynton Beach, Fla., native faced one more than the minimum in his 2.1 innings of work, picking up a strikeout and keeping his ERA at 0.00.
The Blue Devils padded their lead in the fifth as the first four hitters reached base. Moving station to station, Max Miller and Koplove started off the frame with consecutive singles, and leadoff man Andy Perez was plunked by Snyder. Stepping to the plate with the bases loaded, Philips delivered his second hit of the afternoon and sixth RBI of the year with a single to center. After a Bryant pitching change, Neal walked on four pitches to plate Koplove and extend the lead to 4-1.
Duke struck again for three more runs in the sixth, two of them coming on a bunt attempt by Koplove. Back-to-back singles by freshmen Justin Bellinger and Miller set the table for the Philadelphia native, who dropped one down the third base line looking for a hit. Reliever Brandon Bingel's throw sailed down the first base line, enabling both runners to come around to score. Two batters later, Phillips lofted a sac fly to left to bring home Koplove.
"We had a really good approach in the sixth inning, but you knew they were going to be a hard club to put away," Pollard said.
As Pollard predicted, Bryant made things interesting in the eighth against setup man Nick Hendrix. The junior yielded back-to-back singles to start the inning, then issued consecutive walks with one out to force home the second Bulldog run of the game. The second walk brought Pollard out of the dugout, summoning his closer, Koplove, from shortstop.
After collecting his pitching glove from the dugout, the junior took the mound looking for a five-out save. Bingel greeted him with a hit—the first allowed by Koplove all year—that scored two more Bulldog runs, and pinch hitter Zach Wood drew a walk to reload the bases and bring the go-ahead run to the plate.
"We have been just about as good as anybody in the country in throwing strikes and in a couple of spots today they just did a good job of laying off our pitches," Pollard said. "We had a couple of tough walks in the eighth, but by and large it was more about them doing a good job offensively than us doing a poor job on the mound."
Koplove regrouped and got leadoff hitter Cole Fabio to fly out to center. With two outs, pinch-hitter Joe Paparelli squibbed a chopper up the first base line to Bellinger, who flipped to a covering Koplove to barely out-touch Paparelli to the bag and end the scoring threat.
"[I wanted to] go in there and throw strikes," Koplove said. "I got behind on that first batter. I didn't really have a feel for my slider yet, but was able to settle in after that guy and throw strikes, try to pick up Hendrix, a guy who's dominant out of the pen but just didn't have his best stuff, just be calm, be relaxed and attack the zone as much as possible."
Returning to the mound for the ninth, Koplove made short work of the Bulldogs, retiring the side in order and taking the final out—a softly hit comebacker—to the bag himself.
Duke welcomes another potent offense, Georgia Tech, to Durham this weekend for a three-game ACC series beginning Friday at 6 p.m.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.