WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.—There may be a new ACC title favorite in town.
In a pivotal game three of the opening series in conference play, No. 12 Duke cemented its status as arguably the best team in the league and possibly one of the best in the country, defeating No. 1 Wake Forest 10-8 in a game full of walks and unforced errors to clinch its first series win against a top-ranked foe since 2009.
“It was not a Picasso by any stretch by either team, but it was two good teams really wanting it and two good teams going head to head and I just am extremely proud of our club and our toughness,” said head coach Chris Pollard. “I thought we were really really tough over the second half of that game.”
In the eighth inning, with Seaver King at the plate with a chance to flip the game on its head, this series may have had its most intense moment yet. After Owen Proksch threw a fastball right on the edge of the zone that was called a ball, the Southlake, Texas, native had some words for the home plate umpire, who reciprocated them right back. Instantly, Pollard jumped up and came to the defense of his hurler, getting tossed from the game after a lengthy exchange at home plate. With the Duke dugout emotionally charged from the moment, Proksch got the strikeout on King and the visiting dugout erupted with cheers.
“Owen Proksch is our best competitor and our guys have a lot of confidence in him and that was one of the reasons I felt like I had to go out and defend him and have his back because he's a guy that has had this team's back a lot,” Pollard said.
The Blue Devil offense got one extra lift in the last inning with two outs, as a blooper to right field was unable to be brought in and brought Miller around from second to put them ahead 10-8. And just like Friday, Duke (13-2, 2-1 in the ACC) turned to graduate ace Charlie Beilenson to try and close it out. The first batter he faced looked to be a relatively easy putout on a pop fly, but the ball got lost in the lights, giving Wake Forest (12-3, 1-2) a leadoff triple to begin the ninth inning.
From there, the graduate student slammed the door, striking out three straight batters to clinch the victory.
The Demon Deacons took an early lead as the Blue Devils were unable to build on top of a Ben Miller single in the top half of the first inning, and the home team tagged freshman Kyle Johnson for two doubles that ended up in the first run of the contest before the freshman escaped any further damage.
Pollard’s squad got somewhat of a lucky break as the second inning rolled around, as the first tally of the game for the visitors came on unforced errors from Wake Forest. Michael Massey issued two straight walks to Devin Obee and Macon Winslow, then Tyler Albright dribbled one up the middle that sped up second baseman Austin Hawke and led to a throwing error. Zac Morris then made Massey pay a bigger price, lacing a single into left field to put Duke up 2-1. A hit by pitch loaded up the bases for captain Alex Stone, but the catcher’s rough weekend continued as he struck out to end the frame.
After Johnson sat down the side with an emphatic strikeout for out number three, the Duke offense continued to draw blood, as a walk drawn by Logan Bravo and a single from AJ Gracia put runners on the corners, and new pitcher Haiden Leffew tossed a passed ball to score Bravo from third. But once again, the Wake Forest defense stopped the bleeding, as King made a spectacular play to rob Wallace Clark of a hit and keep the game at 3-1.
The wind was blowing a gale Sunday afternoon with the speeds being reported around 15 miles per hour, and that proved evident in the fourth inning, as Jake Reinisch hit a towering fly ball that carried out just beyond the center-field wall to cut the lead to one.
However, the wind also worked to the disadvantage of the home team, as Jake Reinisch missed an usually routine fly ball in right field to help Duke load the bases with no outs. The injury-depleted Wake Forest bullpen struggled to find the strike zone from there, walking in three more runs before Hawke made yet another throwing error on what should have been a routine play. This resulted in a collision that rattled first baseman Nick Kurtz and led to two more runs for Duke. Another wild pitch brought home the ninth run for the visitors.
The Blue Devils looked like they may return the favor in the bottom half of the fifth, as Ryan Higgins allowed the first three runners to reach base before giving way to Gabriel Nard. The sophomore was able to strike out King in his first matchup, but he gave up three quick runs to the Demon Deacons, walking in the first run before surrendering an infield single and a fielder’s choice, leaving the game in favor of Jimmy Romano. Romano did not fare any better, giving up a triple to make this a 9-7 game before escaping with a strikeout.
“Obviously, we came out with the fifth where we scored six and they’re the No. 1 team in the country for a reason, they came back with five of their own. So I think it was just for us coming together a little bit,” Proksch said. “Coach Pollard talks a lot about everything else besides our dugout being white noise. I think we really buy into that, so when something like that happens, we know to just get right back into our process.”
Romano’s struggles continued into the bottom of the sixth inning, as Adam Tellier crushed a home run to left-center field that put Wake Forest within one. James Tallon came on to relieve the junior in the bottom of the seventh, and the sophomore looked just as sharp as he was in his excellent freshman campaign, collecting two strikeouts and inducing a strikeout to end the inning.
Proksch was the next arm to trot out of the bullpen as he set up shop for the bottom of the eighth after Tallon surrendered a leadoff single. After a walk to put two runners on with one out, it seemed as if Duke had entered the danger zone. The sophomore was able to collect a strikeout, but then issued a walk to Kurtz to set up an intense leverage situation with the bases loaded. The Blue Devils escaped scot-free from that inning and a perilous final frame, clinching the series.
But Saturday evening, Chase Burns was simply too much for even the high-octane Duke offense to deal with, as the projected first-round pick in the upcoming MLB Draft had arguably the best game of his collegiate career, going six innings while only allowing one run and racking up a career-high 14 strikeouts.
“Obviously we struggled yesterday against Chase Burns. You just gotta tip your cap to that, I mean, one of the best, if not the best pitcher in the country,” Proksch said.
The one run off of Burns came courtesy of Clark, as the Oklahoma transfer snuck a home run out to right field in the top of the third inning to put the Blue Devils down 2-1. The junior also provided the other two runs for Duke later in the contest, as he roped a double down the right-field line in the top of the ninth to give the visitors one last glimmer of hope before they ultimately fell 6-3 to set up the rubber match.
Up next, Duke will return to Jack Coombs Field to take on Rider in a pair of midweek games before hosting No. 10 Clemson in another high-profile series.
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