Weekend recap: Duke loses twice, wins finale against Wake Forest
Duke scuffled for the past month and a half of the baseball season. But at least the Blue Devils are headed to the ACC tournament on a winning note.
Duke lost 7-2 in the first two games of a series against Wake Forest this week, but won the regular-season finale on Saturday.
The Blue Devils (25-30) wrapped up the first season under coach Corey Muscara with a 10-20 record in ACC play. Duke lost its last five ACC series, getting swept in two of those three-game series.
Duke finished in a tie with Clemson for last place in the league. The Blue Devils are the No. 16 seed for the ACC tournament in Charlotte next week, pitting them against No. 9 seed N.C. State in the 9 a.m. Tuesday game that marks the start of the tournament.
Here are quick recaps from each game this weekend:
Wake Forest 7, Duke 2
On Thursday night, the Blue Devils allowed five runs on only one hit — and committed three errors — in the first inning.
That made it quite the uphill climb against Wake Forest ace Chris Levonas. He allowed one hit, an infield single, and struck out 10 in six innings.
Peter Lemke (2-6) gave up six runs in four innings, though only one of those was earned. David Boisvert gave up a run without allowing a hit in his two innings, and Sammy Petrocelli pitched two scoreless innings. Jordan Regulski, a former Wake Forest commit, pitched a scoreless ninth.
Duke’s runs came on RBI doubles by Jake Lambdin and RJ Hamilton in the eighth.
Wake Forest 7, Duke 2
On Friday night, the Blue Devils played a cleaner game but lost by the same score as the night before.
Duke scored both runs in the bottom of the fourth to make it a 4-2 deficit. But the Blue Devils couldn’t score again, in part because of three batter’s interference calls that eliminated baserunners who were attempting steals.
Aidan Weaver (4-8) went five innings and allowed seven hits, two walks and four runs.
Matthew Strand hit a home run to put Duke on the scoreboard. Michael DiMartini had an RBI single.
Duke 7, Wake Forest 3
On Saturday, Duke picked up the win by scoring the game’s last seven runs.
After Wake Forest scored two in the top of the sixth, Strand hit a two-run homer to tighten things up in the bottom half of the inning.
Strand had the game-tying hit, too, with an RBI single in the eighth. Collin Anderson bunted in a run to take the lead, and later in the inning Coltin Quagliano’s three-run homer provided the Blue Devils plenty of insurance.
Strand was 2-for-4 with three RBI. Duke had eight hits, matching the total it had in the first two games of the series combined.
Jack Hedrick started and went 4 2/3 innings, allowing an unearned run on two hits and two walks. Boisvert was charged with allowing Wake’s last two runs.
Bennett LaPalm got an out and Drew Bryan pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Ben Dean (7-1) picked up the win by going the last two innings and allowing two hits, with two strikeouts.
