Sportswrap is your one-stop shop for everything Duke athletics, where we’ll recap how each of Duke’s sports currently in competition performed over the last week and give a brief look ahead. Here’s our recap for the week of April 22-28:
Football
The Blue Devils had an eventful NFL draft, with three players selected and multiple signed afterwards. Graham Barton was picked by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the 26th overall pick, the first Duke player drafted in the first round since Daniel Jones in 2019. Defensive lineman DeWayne Carter will head to Buffalo after being chosen in the third round, and center Jacob Monk heard his name called on Saturday by the Green Bay Packers. Afterwards, the Blue Devils had a flurry of players signed by teams as undrafted free agents, including Jalon Calhoun (Detroit Lions) and Ja’Mion Franklin (Baltimore Ravens). -Ranjan Jindal
Baseball
It was not a pretty week for the sixth-ranked Blue Devils, as they did not pick up a victory until Sunday. Their slate began with a trip down the road to take on Campbell in a midweek matchup, and it was all Camels from the first pitch. The home team took an early 2-0 lead and never looked back. A weekend series with No. 10 Florida State was next on the docket, and Duke (30-14, 14-10 in the ACC) took some more lumps, losing 4-2 on Friday and seeing a late comeback bid fall short Saturday to lose the series to the Seminoles. However, Sunday brought better fortunes, as the Blue Devils won 16-4 and was aided by three consecutive homers. Up next, Duke hosts Longwood in a Sunday doubleheader after a week-long rest. -Caleb Dudley
Softball
This week, No. 5 Duke went a sterling 5-0 to end the regular season with its best record in program history. The Blue Devils (44-6, 20-4 in the ACC) dominated Gardner-Webb and Longwood in midweek games, outscoring the two a combined 20-1. Over the weekend, Duke went down to Raleigh for a three-game set against N.C. State, and swept the Wolfpack by scores of 4-3, 6-1 and 5-3. The star of the week was undoubtedly freshman left fielder Amiah Burgess, who went 9-for-13 with eight runs, seven RBIs and two walks. The ACC tournament will start May 8 right here in Durham, and the Blue Devils will look to take home their second conference championship. -Myles Powicki
Women’s lacrosse
No. 24 Duke dropped its ACC quarterfinal matchup Wednesday night to No. 3 Boston College 19-5. Graduate attacker Caroline DeBellis led the team in scoring with a hat trick, but senior attacker and Tewaaraton Award nominee Katie DeSimone was noticeably absent from the stat sheet. On the other side, four Eagles had hat tricks of their own. The Blue Devils (10-8, 4-5 in the ACC) struggled to get possessions off the draw circle, outdone 20-5 by Boston College. The lack of offense also translated to an imbalance in the shot chart, as they were outshot 40-13. Duke is now on the bubble for the NCAA tournament, and Selection Sunday May 5 will reveal whether or not the Blue Devils earn a bid. -Audrey Davies
Men’s lacrosse
No. 2 Duke took on unranked North Carolina Saturday in Chapel Hill for its final regular season matchup. After three sloppy quarters, the Blue Devils found themselves down 15-6 to their Tobacco Road hosts and were never able to fully fight their way back. Danowski’s squad fell 15-12 to the Tar Heels and demoted its conference record to 1-3. As a result of the ACC’s tie-breaking procedure, however, Duke (11-4) still won out against Virginia and North Carolina in seeding, ultimately ending the regular season third in the conference. The Blue Devils will travel to Charlotte Friday to take on Syracuse in the first round of the ACC championship. -Colton Schwabe
Track and field
Duke split its athletes between the Penn Relays and the Charlotte Invitational for the weekend. At Penn, the Blue Devil women shined in relay events, placing in the top four in the 4x100m, 4x200m, 4x400m and 4x800m relays, while the distance medley squad brought home a new school record. The men, meanwhile, excelled on the grass on Franklin Field; Christian Toro, Christian Johnson and Aimar Palma Simo each finished within the top five of the hammer throw. Down in Charlotte, Duke won 14 podium finishes, highlighted by impressive marks from the jumps team. Graduate students Beau Allen, Ezra Mellinger, Birgen Nelson and Tia Rozario won their respective events, a good sign of sharpening skill as the ACC championships loom around the corner. Before then, the Blue Devils will have one more opportunity to get in shape, at the Liberty Qualifier in Lynchburg, Va., May 1. -Prithvi Kotapati
Rowing
The Blue Devils co-hosted the Lake Wheeler Invitational this weekend with North Carolina, sweeping 14 of their 18 races to secure second place overall at the regatta. First, the 3V8 cruised to victory with a time of 7:28.175. Then the 4V8, 2V4, V4 and 2V8 all secured first-place finishes of their own. Though the V8 matchup against Alabama came down to a photo-finish, Duke edged out the Crimson Tide by a mere 0.388 seconds to finish out the Friday sweep. Saturday morning, the 4V8, 3V8, V4 and 2V4 clinched additional first-place titles, but a tight race against Syracuse and Penn ultimately left the 2V8 in second place. In all, the 16th-ranked Blue Devils finished second at the competition, behind only fifth-ranked Tennessee. They will return to Lake Wheeler May 17-18 for the ACC championships. -Abby DiSalvo
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