Duke baseball looks for back-to-back 30-win seasons against Wake Forest

After 5 2/3 stellar innings in relief Sunday at Virginia, senior Sarkis Ohanian will pitch in the final ACC series of his career this weekend.
After 5 2/3 stellar innings in relief Sunday at Virginia, senior Sarkis Ohanian will pitch in the final ACC series of his career this weekend.

Duke has relied on its freshmen for much of the season but will look to send its seniors out on top this weekend by doing something only seven teams in program history have accomplished.

The Blue Devils open a three-game set against Wake Forest Thursday at Jack Coombs Field in their final ACC series of the season. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. in the opener, followed by a 6 p.m. start Friday and a 1 p.m. tilt Saturday. A victory in any of the three games against the Demon Deacons would give Duke its 30th win of the season, just the eighth time in more than 100 years of Blue Devil baseball that the program would record consecutive 30-win seasons.

"I know they're excited about playing for that," head coach Chris Pollard said. "[The senior] guys are a huge part of the turnaround here. They're the heart and soul of this team. Mike Rosenfeld's a three-year captain, Andy [Perez] is a captain this year, tremendous veteran presence.... It's no secret we're very young—a lot of times out there you saw a bunch of freshmen with just a handful of seniors around them. Those guys have really been a rock for those young guys to keep them pointed in the right direction."

Duke (29-21, 8-18 in the ACC) enters the series fresh off a 5-2 victory against Longwood Tuesday night. Sophomore Cris Perez supplied the offense early on, launching a two-run home run in the bottom of the first to give his team an early lead. The Miami native has heated up at the plate of late, going 4-for-8 in his past two games, which Pollard attributed to a more conscious effort to use the right side of the field.

"Early in the year I thought he was a little anxious—he was trying to go get the ball instead of trying to let the ball come to him, and because of that he was out front a lot," Pollard said. "When you do that, you're really susceptible to fastballs up and breaking balls away, and those two pitches were giving him trouble. Now, over the last three weeks, he's really focused on staying back and driving the ball to the opposite way, and that's opened up the whole field for him."

The series presents a matchup of two teams with contrasting styles. The Blue Devils have relied on stellar pitching to put away opponents this season, while the Demon Deacons have slugged their way to within striking distance of the final spot in the 10-team ACC tournament. Wake Forest ranks second in the conference with a .299 batting average and has clubbed 48 home runs.

Demon Deacon first baseman Will Craig has put together one of the best offensive seasons in recent history and was threatening to become just the fifth player in history to win the ACC triple crown before falling into a recent RBI drought. The sophomore enters the series with a astronomical .401 batting average—an ACC high—13 home runs and 58 RBIs.

"You've got to mix it up, obviously you've got to get ahead [in the count]. He's a big guy with a longer swing, if he gets in fastball counts where he can sit on one pitch, that's when he's going to be at his best," Pollard said. "I think you've got to get in on him and tie him up because he's got a longer swing.... A guy with a bit of a longer swing like that, you don't want to fall into any patterns where he can guess."

Craig is far from the only offensive threat for Wake Forest (26-24, 11-16). Sophomore Nate Mondou and freshman Justin Yurchak have combined for 25 doubles and 15 home runs and each boast batting averages better than .300.

The Blue Devils will have to deal with Craig on the mound as well, as the sophomore will take the ball in the middle game of the series Friday night. The right-hander's numbers on the hill are not as impressive as his statline at the plate—Craig owns a 5.10 ERA in 42 1/3 innings with six home runs allowed.

As a staff, the Demon Deacons have struggled to contain opposing offenses, posting a team ERA of 5.73 that ranks at the bottom of the ACC. Wake Forest has also allowed 53 home runs this season, a number that is partly the result of playing home games at Gene Hooks Field at Wake Forest Baseball Park, which Pollard called the most hitter-friendly park in the conference. The Demon Deacons surrendered 19 runs to N.C. State in the opening game of their most recent ACC series.

"They've got kind of three similar guys on the mound—they're upper-80s guys [in velocity], nobody that's really going to overpower you," Pollard said. "We've got to look to generate offense—we know we're going to score some runs this weekend."

Operating on five days' rest instead of the usual six because of the shortened week, senior Andrew Istler will get the starting nod for Duke in Thursday's series opener opposite senior Matt Pirro. Redshirt senior Dillon Haviland will then take the mound Friday against Craig.

The Blue Devil coaching staff has not yet announced a starter for Saturday's finale, a slot usually filled by sophomore Bailey Clark—who did not escape the third inning in his most recent outing due to struggles with his command. Pollard said a decision on the final spot in the weekend rotation would be made after seeing how the bullpen is used early in the series.

Senior Sarkis Ohanian was unavailable for Tuesday's win against Longwood after throwing 5 2/3 innings out of the bullpen at Virginia last Sunday. Both Ohanian and freshman Jack Labosky—who threw just 50 pitches in five innings to earn the win against the Lancers—will be ready to throw in relief this weekend.

"I think [Labosky] will be available Saturday—only threw 50 pitches, was really efficient. I think he was like 2.8 pitches per batter faced, just really got guys in and out of the box quickly," Pollard said. "[Ohanian] was lobbying to pitch [Tuesday against Longwood], but I wanted to hold him."

With a series win, the Blue Devils would likely keep the Demon Deacons on the outside looking in at the postseason picture in the ACC.

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