Weekend recap: Duke drops series at Virginia Tech
Duke’s first road ACC series saw the Blue Devils drop two of three games at Virginia Tech this past weekend.
Duke lost the first and final games of the series. The win came in dramatic fashion with a pair of ninth-inning runs; the loss in the series finale came in extra innings.
The Blue Devils (16-10, 4-5 ACC) have now won one ACC series and dropped two of them.
Here are brief recaps of each game from this past weekend:
Virginia Tech 7, Duke 1
On Friday, the Blue Devils didn’t score until Jeff Lougee’s home run in the ninth inning.
Duke’s offense was silenced by VT’s Brendan Yagesh. He pitched seven innings and allowed five hits, didn’t surrender a walk, and struck out seven. The Blue Devils had six hits before Lougee’s homer but none of them was for extra bases.
The Blue Devils used a five-man effort on the mound. Starter Aidan Weaver pitched 3 2/3 innings and allowed three runs on six hits. Marcello Mastroianni settled things down with 2 1/3 scoreless. But Bennett Lapalm gave up two runs and Roman DiGiacomo gave up another two (both unearned) for the Hokies to gain some cushion.
Duke 8, Virginia Tech 6
On Saturday, the Blue Devils got a two-run homer by Matthew Strand in the top of the ninth to even the series.
Duke led 6-3 after the seventh, and after Strand’s first homer of the game. But VT got one run back in the seventh and two in the eighth to tie the game.
RJ Hamilton had a one-out bunt single in the ninth. After a groundout, Strand blasted his sixth homer of the season to give the Blue Devils the lead for the last time.
Ben Dean (4-0) pitched the last two innings for Duke. He allowed two walks in the ninth. But recorded strikeouts of the last two batters to end the game.
Strand was 3-for-5 with four RBI in this game. Coltin Quagliano was 2-for-4 and scored twice. Kaden Smith also had a two-hit game.
Virginia Tech 7, Duke 6 (10 innings)
On Sunday, Duke rallied to score in the eighth and ninth, sending the game to extra innings. But the Hokies won it on Sam Grube’s bases-loaded single in the bottom of the 10th.
Duke trailed 6-4 through seven innings. Lougee singled in a run in the eighth and Smith drove in the game-tying run (unearned) with two outs in the ninth. The Blue Devils stranded two to end the inning.
Smith had a first-inning home run, too, part of his 2-for-5, two-RBI day. Jake Lambdin was 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI.
Duke used seven pitchers. Dean gave up the game-winning single, the only batter he faced. Aiden O’Connell was charged with the run, having given up a walk, single and hit batter in the 10th.
