Weekend recap: Duke puts up 20 to win rubber match
Duke’s baseball team finished off a three-game series on Sunday against Miami.
The Blue Devils won Sunday’s rubber match, winning the series 2-1.
Coach Corey Muscara’s squad moves to .500 in ACC play as the Blue Devils (15-7, 3-3 ACC) wrapped up the weekend at home.
Here are quick recaps on each game this weekend:
Duke 4, Miami 0
On Friday night, Blue Devils ace Aidan Weaver shut down the Hurricanes. He pitched six innings with just two hits, one walk and eight strikeouts, recording his fourth win of the season.
Tyler Albright, who’s been one of the Blue Devils’ best players this season, started the scoring early with a solo home run. He finished with two hits and two RBI in the shutout win.
In the fourth inning, the Blue Devils put up a three-spot on some pitching mistakes from the Hurricanes. Those were the last runs of the game.
The Blue Devils’ bullpen held it down as they had three guys come in for three innings and hold the Hurricanes hitless.
Blue Devils’ right-hander Peter Lemke replaced Weaver in the seventh inning, throwing two solid innings as he tallied two strikeouts and two walks.
Ben Dean replaced Lemke and got two outs, one via strikeout. But he also walked three.
As the Blue Devils were looking to close it out, Aiden O’Connell recorded his fourth save of the season as he struck out his only batter faced on three pitches.
Miami 9, Duke 0
On Saturday, Miami reversed things with a shutout win of its own.
Matthew Nochowitz only recorded two outs and left the game because of an injury. He allowed three runs, one hit and two walks.
Marcello Mastroianni replaced Nochowitz and threw 43-pitches in one inning of work, giving up two hits, four runs and a walk as the Hurricanes got up 7-0 quickly in the first two innings.
The back end of the Blue Devils’ bullpen held up much better as Grayson Walker gave the team a solid three innings, giving up just one hit, a walk, and a strikeout in one of his best outings of the season.
The Blue Devils had five hits, nobody with more than one.
Duke 20, Miami 10 (7 innings)
On Sunday, in what might be the craziest game that the Blue Devils play all season, the bats came alive and run-ruled the Hurricanes.
The game started off with Matthew Strand hitting a grand slam in the first inning, boosting the Blue Devils ahead quickly.
The Hurricanes were barreling just about everything on the Blue Devils pitcher, Andy Leon, as he lasted just 3 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits, six runs, walking three, and striking out two.
The Blue Devils got ahead by four runs in the third inning, but the Hurricanes didn’t quit. Daniel Cuvet hit a three-run shot to left field and tied the game at 6-6 in the fourth.
The Blue Devils responded and scored two more runs, pushing their lead back to two, courtesy of Jake Lambdin, who had an RBI double to left field, and Kaden Smith, who had a sac-fly to center field.
In the fifth, the Hurricanes posted their response, retaking the lead by one run as Cuvet hit an RBI double and Alex Sosa hit a two-run shot to center field.
Then, the fifth inning came around as the Blue Devils put up a nine-spot, taking a 17-9 lead. The bats found rhythm and never looked back in Sunday’s contest.
They found themselves up 18-10 as the seventh inning started, then sent the Hurricanes home early as Brooks Perez hit a two-run walkoff home run, bringing in Coltin Quagliano.
