Weekend recap: Duke swept at Boston College
The results aren’t getting better for Duke’s baseball team.
The Blue Devils were swept this weekend at Boston College, pushing them closer to .500. Duke (22-20, 8-13 ACC) has lost eight of its last nine games and has lost five of seven ACC series this season.
Boston College (31-12, 14-7) is surging — hence, it’s not as if Duke was swept by a bottom-barrel ACC program. The Eagles have won seven straight games and won earlier league series against Miami and Virginia, both of which are over .500 in ACC play.
Here are quick recaps of each game this weekend:
Boston College 11, Duke 1 (7 innings)
On Friday, BC rolled up eight runs in the first two innings to cruise to a run-rule victory.
Aidan Weaver (4-5) only recorded five outs in his shortest start of the season. He allowed seven runs on five hits and three walks. It’s the second straight rough start for him — he only pitched two innings, giving up six runs, in last weekend’s series opener at N.C. State.
Duke’s four-man bullpen effort of Grayson Walker, Jack Feehery, Edward Hart and Jordan Regulski combined for the other 4 1/3 innings. They allowed four runs (two unearned against Hart), six hits and three walks.
BC had eight steals in the second, tying an NCAA record for the most in a single inning.
The Blue Devils’ lone run scored on a double play groundout. They only had three hits.
Boston College 4, Duke 2
In Saturday’s first game, BC scored three in the first inning and that held up through Duke’s attempted rally.
The Blue Devils got a run in the fourth with Matthew Strand’s solo home run. They pulled to within a run of BC’s lead when Coltin Quagliano reached on an error and Collin Anderson scored in the seventh.
The Eagles answered with an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh. RJ Hamilton had a leadoff single in the eighth but was picked off. Jake Lambdin led off the ninth with a single but the Blue Devils were unable to string together hits to extend or even tighten the game.
Peter Lemke (1-4) started for Duke and pitched five innings. The only damage against him were those three first-inning runs; he only gave up three hits and a walk. Jack Hedrick pitched the other three innings for the Blue Devils, allowing one run on three hits.
Boston College 14, Duke 6
In Saturday’s second game, the Blue Devils unraveled in the late innings.
Duke had a 5-1 lead midway through the sixth. Strand hit a three-run homer in the sixth, and Kaden Smith had RBI singles in the fifth and sixth to put Duke in a good position.
BC tied the game in the bottom of the sixth with Colin Larson’s solo homer and Carter Hendrickson’s three-run double.
Julio Soler gave BC a lead with an RBI single in the seventh. Smith’s third RBI tied the game in the top of the eighth.
The Eagles blew the game open there. They sent 12 batters to the plate, scoring eight runs on seven hits and a hit batter. BC also had five steals in the inning.
Five of those runs came against Ben Dean (6-1). He allowed four hits and two walks. BC’s last three runs were charged to David Boisvert, who only faced three batters and gave up three hits.
