In just a couple weeks, millions will watch as small, lesser-known schools take down some of the top teams in the nation in March Madness. Those who watched No. 3 Duke baseball against Rider got a sneak peek of the excitement.
Coming off a monumental series win against then-No. 1 Wake Forest, Duke split a pair of games against the Broncs — giving their opponents just their second win of the season. While they mustered merely two runs on 11 hits in the first game of the series, the Blue Devils bounced back Wednesday to the tune of a 10-run first inning and eventual 18-4 win.
"I really liked our response today. Credit to Rider, they really came out and were ready to play today,” head coach Chris Pollard told GoDuke after the game. “They threw a big punch against us in the first inning. [Jackson] Emus didn't do anything wrong; they just took great swings. I liked our ability to answer back in the bottom of the first and there was a different energy in our dugout to answer back in a big way.”
After scoring six runs on nine hits of its own Tuesday, Rider picked up right where it left off in the series’ second game. The Broncs immediately jumped on Emus, a Princeton graduate transfer making his first start for Duke (14-3, 2-1 in the ACC). After striking out the first batter he saw, Emus surrendered five consecutive hits, including back-to-back doubles from senior catcher Brian Skettini and graduate third baseman Luke Lesch. By the time Emus finally got out of the inning, four runs had crossed the plate for Rider (2-10).
But the chaos of the game’s opening frame was not nearly complete.
In the bottom half of the inning, Duke quickly loaded the bases with two walks and a single from senior catcher Alex Stone. Moments later, AJ Gracia ripped a ball right back where it came from for a two-RBI single up the middle.
Then, just a day after letting sophomore starting pitcher Clayton Poliey go eight innings, Rider head coach Barry Davis decided to pull sophomore Christian Aiello after the southpaw had recorded just one out.
The pitching change did little to slow down the Blue Devils, who piled on four more runs against sophomore Gavin Hawkes. Davis made another change on the mound before the Broncs got to the second out of the first inning, but graduate student Ben Miller and Stone quickly smashed two more doubles to bring Duke’s total for the inning to 10.
That level of production was a far cry from the offensive output the Blue Devils put together Tuesday, as they did not muster any runs until the ninth inning. Following its series against the hard-throwing pitching staff of the Demon Deacons, the Duke lineup struggled to adjust to the slower speed and pitching style of the Broncs.
Their immediate scoring Wednesday reinvigorated the Blue Devils and brought back the confidence of a high-level team. Emus retired six consecutive batters and recorded eight total strikeouts, while the lineup continued to work productive at-bats. Stone even put himself a triple away from the cycle in just the third inning, as he smashed a ball over the right-field fence.
The experienced backstop has struggled to start the year, coming into Wednesday’s game hitting just .242. However, he has continued to hit the ball hard and remains a stalwart in the middle of the lineup.
Junior David Boisvert, senior Josh Allen and sophomore Edward Hart took care of the rest of game in relief for Emus, but Duke could not muster any more runs until the seventh inning, when graduate student Chad Knight was able to drive one in after Miller walked.
The Blue Devils added another run in the eighth as the Broncs continued to struggle with command, but the fireworks came when junior Andrew Yu put the ball over the left-field fence for a grand slam and cemented Duke’s win.
“I thought our at-bats in the first were really good, starting with Morris to begin the ballgame,” Pollard said. “What I appreciated the rest of the game was we didn't let them up off the mat."
The Blue Devils will face their second-straight weekend series against a top-10 opponent, as they welcome No. 9 Clemson to Durham. Last season, Duke won the series in thrilling fashion on the road.
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Dom Fenoglio is a Trinity sophomore and an assistant Blue Zone editor of The Chronicle's 119th volume.