Walk-off single sends Duke baseball past Pittsburgh

Andy Perez delivered the walk-off hit for the Blue Devils in the bottom of the ninth Sunday.
Andy Perez delivered the walk-off hit for the Blue Devils in the bottom of the ninth Sunday.

It was a roller coaster ride at the ballpark Sunday afternoon—Duke trailed by three, tied the score, then fell behind by three and tied the score again, and finally walked off in the ninth to clinch a series victory. There was drama, determination and great relief pitching all in one nine-inning game.

The Blue Devils defeated a Pittsburgh team that has alternated wins and losses in its past eight games by a score of 7-6 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park Sunday afternoon on a walk-off single by second baseman Andy Perez. After Panther starter Marc Berube sat down 13 consecutive Duke batters, the Blue Devils tallied four runs in the last three innings to win their third walk-off game this season.

“It’s our best win of the year to this point,” head coach Chris Pollard told GoDuke.com. “You’ve got to win those series at home…. It’s big in so many ways.”

After reliever Sarkis Ohanian quieted the Pittsburgh bats during the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, Duke (18-6, 4-5 in the ACC) returned from the seventh-inning stretch and cut into the Panthers’ three-run lead. With two outs and freshman Jack Labosky on second, shortstop Kenny Koplove ripped a single down the left field line, bringing home the Clovis, Calif., native and making the score 6-4.

Ohanian remained dominant and shut down Pittsburgh in the top of the eighth, allowing his offense to quickly get back to where it had left off.

“He was unbelievable,” Pollard said of the Boynton Beach, Fla., native. “He had major league stuff out there on the mound today. I’m just incredibly proud of Sarkis. To me, it was the outing of the year so far for our club.”

Facing a new pitcher in Garrett Wrambel, senior Andy Perez got the inning started with one of Duke’s three hits of the inning, a single off the Blue Monster in left field.

Pinch-hitter Grant McCabe recorded another single, and the Blue Devils advanced the runners to second and third at the cost of two outs. Facing a 1-1 count and down by two, freshman Justin Bellinger ripped the pitch past a diving Nick Yarnall at first base and into the right field corner, erasing eight innings of back-and-forth drama to knot up the score at six.

In the top of the ninth, Ohanian struck out the side to give Duke a well-deserved chance for a win.

The Blue Devils delivered.

Peter Zyla reached on an infield single and Jalen Phillips flared a one-out base-knock over the second baseman to set the stage. Then Perez reached down and punched a shot over a leaping Jordan Frabasilio at second, rounding first as Koplove slid home around a late throw from the outfield.

After Koplove touched home plate just to be sure, Duke spilled out of the dugout and dashed to first base to celebrate with the senior from Roswell, Ga.

“To go into almost the halfway point [in ACC play]…4-5 now instead of 3-6 is huge for us,” Perez said. “Our confidence is at an all-time high.”

The Panthers (10-12, 4-5) had opened the floodgates from the start with three runs in the first inning. The Blue Devils then fought back, led offensively by Perez, who wore out Columbia and Pittsburgh pitchers by going 12-for-23 with six RBIs and a pair of home runs this past week.

From the third inning through the fifth, though, Berube sent every Duke batter he faced back to the dugout. In contrast, Blue Devil starter Bailey Clark and reliever James Ziemba struggled.

After Clark escaped trouble twice in the third, Ziemba allowed a fourth-inning run via a two-out balk and a fifth inning RBI triple that took him out of the game. Trailing 5-3, Ohanian entered, only to allow the Panthers a sixth run on a wild pitch.

Then, however, the senior got settled, allowing just one baserunner in 4.2 innings of work. Throwing in the low-to-mid 90s, the 5-foot-11 right-hander threw outstanding baseball to keep Duke in the ballgame.

“When he came into the game, it didn’t look great,” Pollard said. “They had all the momentum and we hadn’t played great to that point. [Ohanian] single-handedly got momentum back in our favor with the way he pitched.”

The Blue Devils travel to Lynchburg, Va., Tuesday seeking a second win against Liberty this season.

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