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Duke Baseball: Pitching at the forefront in Blue Devils’ struggle

By Kevin Connelly

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 17: Salvador Perez #13 of the Kansas City Royals and the American League's glove sits near the field during the 89th MLB All-Star Game, presented by Mastercard at Nationals Park on July 17, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 17: Salvador Perez #13 of the Kansas City Royals and the American League's glove sits near the field during the 89th MLB All-Star Game, presented by Mastercard at Nationals Park on July 17, 2018 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images) /
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The Duke Baseball team struggled again this week, but it was not due to the lack of offensive production, rather the pitching staff failing to consistently get outs.

After being swept at home by Louisville last weekend, the Duke Baseball team tried to regain its footing this week, with four more home games.

The week started with a game against Campbell and the Camels got out to a hot start, scoring the first three runs of the game.

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Duke would respond with a run of its own in the third inning, but Campbell would have the next eight runs of the game, before Duke would try and cut into the lead with five runs of its own.

The Camels tacked on one run for good measure in the ninth inning to come away with a 12-6 win.

Along with the 12 runs, Campbell also had 17 hits and Duke’s three errors in the field certainly didn’t help the Blue Devils’ cause.

Head Coach Chris Pollard had to use nine pitchers in the loss, with Al Pesto throwing the most innings on Wednesday, two.

Kennie Taylor and Erikson Nichols led the way for Duke at the plate with two RBI each.

With four straight losses, the Blue Devis would turn to Ben Gross (3-1) and he and the Duke bats would come alive on Friday afternoon against Wake Forest.

The Blue Devils went on to win 16-2 behind five strong innings from Gross, only allowing one hit, one run, one walk, and striking out six.

Duke was led by four RBI from Michael Rothenberg and Ethan Murray, while Chase Cheek had three RBI.

Cooper Stinson (1) picked up his first save of the year, throwing three innings, allowing one hit, run, and walk, while fanning five.

The Duke offense did not slow down on Saturday, but despite eight runs against Wake Forest, the Blue Devils could not come away with the win, allowing three straight Wake runs in the six, seventh, and eighth innings as the Demon Deacons won 9-8.

Chris Crabtree led the way with two RBI, while Kennie Taylor, Erikson Nichols, Matt Mervis, Kyle Gallagher, Ethan Murray, and Michael Rothenberg all had one RBI.

Bryce Jarvis (ND) threw four and one-thirds innings, allowing 11 hits and six runs, while walking three and striking out six.

Thomas Girard (0-2) picked up the loss after his two and a third innings, allowing just one run on three hits.

In the rubber match of the series, Duke dropped a heart breaker to Wake Forest 5-4 in 12 innings.

Wake got out to an early 3-0, but the Blue Devis would respond. The game was tied at 4 after the sixth inning and it stayed that was until the top of the twelfth when Wake was able to push a run across.

Girard (0-3) picked up the loss again after three and two thirds innings, surrendering four hits and just the one run.

Duke is now 13-11 on the season and 3-6 in ACC play as the Blue Devils hit the road this week for a weekday game at Davidson before going to Chapel Hill for a weekend series with the North Carolina Tar Heels.

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