Stock Watch: Duke baseball, Duke rowing have big weekends, look to end postseason droughts

The bell of the Blue Zone stock exchange has rung again, meaning it's time to take a look at who is rising and falling with their performances for Blue Devil sports teams. Each week, the Blue Zone will look at whose stock is on the rise and whose stock has taken a hit from the week in the world of Duke athletics.

Bull Market—Trending Up

Duke baseball: For the first time since 1994, Duke won a series against perennial powerhouse Florida State, who entered the weekend ranked seventh in the nation. With the team sitting firmly on the cusp of making the NCAA tournament, two wins against the Seminoles did nothing but help the Blue Devils. Although it dropped the series finale Sunday to snap a seven-game winning streak, Duke has gone on an impressive run with wins against several ranked opponents in recent weeks. Led by freshman Jimmy Herron in the leadoff spot in the order, timely hitting from a young lineup and superb pitching, the Blue Devils have made quite the case to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1961 heading into their last series of the regular season at Pittsburgh this weekend.

Duke rowing: The No. 19 Blue Devils were not expected to finish in the top three at the ACC championships this weekend, facing off against several higher-ranked opponents in the conference. In fact, Duke was seeded as high as the third seed in only two boats and did not race in the 2V4 due to the team’s small size. Regardless, first-year head coach Megan Cooke Carcagno’s team defied all odds, finishing in second place in the ACC. The Blue Devils finished with silver medals in the V4, the 2V8 and V8—the highest-scored of all the races—inching ahead of No. 16 Syracuse in the signature event by the bow of the boat. Hoping to receive a bid Tuesday evening to race in the NCAA championships for the first time in history, Duke made a resounding statement this weekend.

Goals: With games for both the men’s and women’s lacrosse teams this weekend in their respective NCAA tournaments, there were a lot of shots flying around. Most of them went in, as Duke was on the wrong side of 16-11 and 15-10 outcomes. Both matchups featured high-scoring first-halves, with Duke attackers Jack Bruckner and Grace Fallon both notching hat tricks after only 30 minutes of gameplay. Unfortunately for the two squads, they could not keep the ball out of their own nets as well and failed to keep up with their high-powered opponents to reach the quarterfinals. Both games did not lack excitement, though, as goal after goal was tallied in the Blue Devils' postseason contests this weekend.

Bear Market—Trending Down

Myles Jones and Deemer Class: The illustrious career of perhaps the greatest midfield duo in the history of Duke lacrosse came to an end Saturday with the Blue Devils' 16-11 loss to Loyola in the first round of the NCAA tournament. Class and Jones went silent despite the shootout, as the highest-scoring midfielders this season were shut down by Loyola’s defense. But not all the credit deserves to go to the Greyhounds—both Jones and Class were off Saturday, with Jones committing an uncharacteristic six turnovers and Class going the first 30 minutes without a tally. If not for Jack Bruckner—who had six goals on the day—Loyola would have cruised past the Blue Devils.

Duke women’s lacrosse vs. North Carolina: For the second straight year, Duke was unseated by the third-ranked Tar Heels, who moved on to the NCAA quarterfinals. The Blue Devils’ third loss of the season to the Tar Heels snapped their 11-year streak of reaching the third-round of the tournament and marked the end of the collegiate careers for an impressive senior class that included the likes of Kelsey Duryea, Claire Scarrone and Kelci Smesko—who had four goals Sunday afternoon. The Blue Devils cannot seem to solve their Tobacco Road rivals, as they found themselves on the losing end for the fifth consecutive matchup. After keeping up with the Tar Heels in the first half and heading into the locker room down just 9-8, the wheels came off after the break for Duke, as it committed three consecutive turnovers to start the final period to give North Carolina the momentum it needed to knock off the Blue Devils once again.