Duke baseball has finally won a series in Blacksburg.
For the first time in six years, the Blue Devils won at least two games on the road against Virginia Tech. They made sure to do so in the most dramatic way possible, too.
Both of the first two games took extra innings. The Blue Devils lept out to a 5-2 lead by the middle of the fifth inning on Friday thanks to a litany of hits and a solo shot by second baseman Zac Morris.
Duke ace Jonathan Santucci exited the game after a single and back-to-back walks to start the fifth inning, however, and the Hokies smelled blood in the water. Owen Proksch took over on the mound and struck out his first batter, but he walked his second to plate the first run. The next two Virginia Tech hits drove home three more runs, including a 2-RBI single from centerfielder Ben Watson to knot the game.
Hokies catcher Henry Cooke mashed a two-run homer in the sixth to pull ahead 8-6, and Duke seemed destined to let a four-run lead slip away. Instead, however, Logan Bravo and Ben Miller each tanked a solo home run in the eighth and ninth inning, respectively, to force extra innings.
BEN MILLER NO DOUBTER. TIE GAME.
😈 @benmiller1820
T9 | Duke 8, VT 8 | #BlueCollar pic.twitter.com/Qvgoxmvsm0
— Duke Baseball (@DukeBASE) April 20, 2024
Miller got the last laugh in the top of the 11th, too, with an RBI single to left field that produced the winning run. Duke took game one 9-8.
The Saturday sequel offered a lot fewer offensive fireworks. Miller picked up where he left off with an RBI double in the third, his third RBI of the weekend, and Cooke squared the game with a sacrifice fly in the next inning.
No other runs came across in regulation.
In the bottom of the 11th, with the game tied at 1-1, Bravo lived through every player’s nightmare. With two outs, the Hokies’ Christian Martin grounded the ball harmlessly to Duke shortstop Wallace Clark. Clark scooped it up and fired the ball to Bravo, and it smacked into the first baseman’s glove just in time for the out.
And then it popped out.
Bravo stared at the ball in disbelief as David McCann, who had been on third base, walked across for the winning run.
Bravo got his redemption on Sunday, however. The Hokies took a commanding lead after a five-run third inning, and Duke trailed by three runs in the deciding game. The first baseman took down the Saturday demons with a three-run shot to left-center in the bottom of the seventh, pulling Duke into a tie game.
After centerfielder Devin Obee robbed a potential Hokies home run in the bottom of the eighth, Duke mashed two home runs in the top of the ninth to cement the comeback. AJ Gracia sent his second of the day over the wall before Obee added an exclamation point to his heroism.
As a team, the Blue Devils hit 10 home runs between Friday and Sunday’s victories.
Duke, now 28-11 for the year and 12-8 against ACC opponents, takes on Campbell on Tuesday before a three-game home series against Florida State.