Duke baseball advances to ACC title game after huge eighth inning against Miami

The Blue Devils overcame an early deficit with a six-run eighth inning to book their spot in the conference championship game.

The Duke Blue Devils will play for the ACC title on Sunday.

The Duke baseball team used a six-run eighth inning to overwhelm the Miami Hurricanes in Saturday’s semifinal game, winning 8-2 in order to keep their tournament alive.

The Hurricanes actually drew first blood during Saturday’s game. After the two offenses combined for two walks, no hits, and one double-play during the first three innings, Miami third baseman Daniel Cuvet launched a ball into the night sky for a two-run home run in the top of the fourth.

That hit marked the second-to-last at-bat for Duke starter Ryan Higgins, and praise for Saturday’s win must begin and end with the Blue Devils bullpen. Gabriel Nard, Fran Oschell III, and Charlie Beilenson combined for 5.1 scoreless innings with a single hit allowed. Miami only generated three base runners over the closing five innings at the plate, and no member of the Hurricanes reached third base.

The Duke offense slowly crawled its way into the game. Three walks and a single in the bottom of the fifth brought home the first run, one-run ballgame. Two hits and a sacrifice fly brought home the second, tie game.

Then, carnage erupted in the eighth. After 7.1 innings of impressive work between Herick Hernandez and Nick Robert, with a runner on first and one out, Miami brought out Myles Caba on the mound.

Duke catcher Alex Stone promptly did this to his eighth pitch of the game.

Miami swiftly reeled in Caba after he allowed another single, replacing him with Brandon Olivera. Devin Obee, less patient than Stone, did this to Olivera’s third pitch of the night.

The game entirely unraveled from there. Well, it already had unraveled, but the Hurricanes lost contain. Olivera coughed up a walk and two singles in his next four batters, and the fourth at-bat still reached base safely due to a fielding error.

Two more runs came home in the meantime, and within the span of 30 minutes, the door slammed shut on Miami’s ACC tournament run.

Duke advances to play Florida State in Sunday’s championship game.