Tag: ACC Baseball Championship

Duke baseball’s ACC tournament victory and celebration in photos

The Blue Devils offense blazed through Charlotte, culminating in a runaway win over Florida State in Sunday’s title game. Check out the week’s best photos here.

For the second time in four years, Duke baseball took home the ACC tournament title.

The Blue Devils absolutely burned their way through Truist Field in Charlotte, scoring 43 runs in four games. The effort culminated in a 16-4 blowout over Florida State on Sunday, a team that defeated Duke in a weekend series just weeks earlier. Ben Miller and Devin Obee both hit grand slams, the latter serving as Obee’s third home run in three days.

The Duke pitching staff did its part, too. After giving up eight runs during a narrow win over Virginia Tech to open pool play, they held NC State, Miami, and the Seminoles to seven combined runs over the final 27 innings. Duke outscored its last three opponents by more than eight runs per game.

Duke now awaits the selection show to see if they earned one of the 16 regional host spots for this postseason, but a conference crown gives them favorable odds.

Here are the best photos from the team’s statement weekend.

Duke baseball will play Florida State in Sunday’s ACC championship game

The Blue Devils, fresh off back-to-back offensive explosions, will play the Seminoles with a conference tournament title on the line.

Duke baseball, with an offense in full form, will battle Florida State in Sunday’s ACC championship game.

After winning a pool with NC State and Virginia Tech thanks to a six-run fifth inning against the Wolfpack on Thursday, the Blue Devils hung six runs on Miami in the eighth inning en route to a semifinal victory on Saturday.

Across its last 25 innings at the plate (no bottom of the ninth against Virginia Tech or the Hurricanes), the Blue Devils have raked in 27 runs and mashed nine home runs. Centerfielder Devin Obee and catcher Alex Stone each have two, with Obee cranking one in each of the last two games, and second baseman Zac Morris has already hit three.

A Sunday victory could be enough for Duke to host a regional in Durham, too. After a rocky end to the regular season saw Duke lose seven of its last 13 games and each of its last three conference series (including one to the Seminoles), D1Baseball and other projections dropped the Blue Devils down to a No. 2 seed. A tournament win over what has been the deepest conference in college baseball this season could vault Duke back into the top 16 spots.

Sunday’s first pitch is scheduled for noon Eastern time.

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.

Duke pitcher Jonathan Santucci throwing in the bullpen during ACC Tournament

The Duke baseball team shared a video of left-handed ace Jonathan Santucci, currently out with a rib injury, getting loose at the ACC Tournament.

Duke baseball fans hoping for a quick recovery for star pitcher [autotag]Jonathan Santucci[/autotag] got some good news on Saturday.

The left-handed ace, who is currently rehabbing from a rib injury on his non-throwing side, warmed up in the bullpen ahead of the Blue Devils’ ACC Tournament semifinal against Miami. The team shared a video of him throwing and talking with teammates on social media before the game, which got pushed back due to a weather delay.

Santucci leads the Blue Devils with 12 starts this season, and his 56.0 innings pitched remain the most on the team despite the fact that he hasn’t thrown a pitch since May 5. His 3.54 ERA is the lowest among Duke pitchers with at least five starts and the third-lowest of any Blue Devil with 30 innings on the mound.

He’s struck out 86 batters and allowed 73 combined walks and hits (for a WHIP of 1.30), and opponents are batting just .189 against Santucci this season.

The lefty likely won’t play again until regional action, barring an effort for the ACC title game if Duke defeats the Hurricanes. But the warm-ups are a promising sign for his postseason availability.

Duke baseball’s ACC Championship pool set, will play Virginia Tech on Tuesday

The ACC Baseball Championship bracket pits the Blue Devils against the Hokies and the Wolfpack for a spot in the semifinals.

Duke baseball needs to take down NC State and Virginia Tech in pool play to advance to the ACC Championship semifinals.

The conference released its tournament bracket over the weekend, and the Blue Devils got paired with the Wolfpack and the Hokies for the initial games.

NC State, the third-ranked team in the conference, finished with a 32-19 record overall but with an 18-11 record against ACC opponents. The Hokies finished with a 32-20 overall record, finishing a fraction below .500 in conference play with a 14-16 mark.

The three teams will play each other in a round-robin format, each playing the other once. At the end of pool play, the team with the best record advances to the semifinals.

If two of the three teams remain tied at the end of the proceedings, the team with the highest seed moves on. As the second seed in the pool, Duke holds the tiebreaker over Virginia Tech, but the Wolfpack hold the tiebreaker over them both.

Duke’s first game of the tournament, which takes place at Truist Field in Charlotte, takes place on Tuesday against the Hokies at 7 p.m. The Blue Devils will then play NC State on Thursday at the same time.