Duke baseball: First ACC title since humans first reached outer space

Evidently, the Duke baseball program is now in the history-making business.

Seeing that Yuri Gagarin was a Soviet, chances are he didn’t witness the 1961 Duke baseball team’s season-long journey to the ACC title (there was no postseason conference tournament until 1973). Besides, around that time, the cosmonaut was busy becoming the first human to ever journey into outer space.

So that should give you a clearer picture of just how long it had been since the Blue Devils captured a conference crown. If not, then consider that President John F. Kennedy had just entered office.

But history books build, as was the case on Sunday as No. 9 seed Duke (32-20) knocked off No. 3 seed NC State (30-17), 1-0, to win the ACC Tournament at Truist Field in Charlotte, home of the Triple-A Charlotte Knights.

Before this go-round, the Blue Devils had never even reached the championship game at the event. And they had not beaten the Wolfpack there since 1983.

Now, with the trophy in hand, Duke has earned an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. The full 64-team field is set to come out at noon Monday on ESPN2.

An impressive late-season Duke baseball surge

Just three weeks ago, it was looking dicey as to whether ninth-year Duke baseball head coach Chris Pollard and his club would even be one of the 12 to earn a trip to the ACC Tournament. On May 8, following double-header losses at Louisville, the Blue Devils sat 10-17 against ACC foes and 20-20 overall.

The group hasn’t lost since.

With 12 straight wins in tow, Duke will head to the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time in school history.

Between 1962 and 2015, the Blue Devils never once played on the national postseason stage. This, though, marks their fourth ticket since 2016 — the 2020 season abruptly ended for everyone in March due to the pandemic — as the program hopes to continue its hot streak and advance to Super Regional action for the third straight time.

Needless to say, Chris Pollard, who is now 277-197 at Duke with seven consecutive winning seasons to his name, is doing plenty right these days.