Duke baseball: Blue Devils near top in each of premature final polls

The Duke baseball team had its season end prematurely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Blue Devils finished near the top of most of the baseball polls in their final rankings.

In back-to-back seasons, the Duke baseball team fell one game short of reaching the College World Series; however, in 2020, the Blue Devils seemed destined to get over the hump and reach Omaha.

Then the season was canceled due to COVID-19, and Duke’s dream of winning the College World Series came to a screeching and unexpected halt once again.

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The Blue Devils ended the season at 12-4 (2-1 ACC), and despite dropping two games in a row, Duke was set to take on rival and fellow ACC powerhouse North Carolina in a three-game weekend series.

Despite the extremely shortened season, several highlights still remain, including the first perfect game in program history from Bryce Jarvis back on February 21 in an 8-0 win over Cornell.

Duke was firing on all cylinders, and in the final release of the various college baseball polls, Duke is near the top in just about every single one.

The Blue Devils were ranked the highest in the Perfect Game Poll at No. 8, while Duke is ranked at No. 10 in the Baseball America and D1 Baseball Polls.

Coach Chris Pollard’s team was placed at No. 11 in the USA Today College Baseball Poll as well as in the National College Baseball Writers Association Poll, and the lowest the Blue Devils were ranked was at No. 22 in the Collegiate Baseball Poll.

ALSO READ: Bryce Jarvis tosses perfect game against Cornell

Jeff Goodman of Stadium reported that the NCAA will vote on March 30 whether or not to grant a special year of eligibility for the spring and winter sport seniors who had their seasons cut short, and the expectation is that spring seniors will be granted another year of eligibility while winter seniors will not.

Regardless of how the vote turns out, Duke will try once again to reach the College World Series in the 2021 baseball season.

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