Tag: George Mason Patriots

D1Baseball’s Top 25 keeps Duke at No. 12 in latest poll

Duke remains steady at No. 12 in latest D1Baseball poll.

Duke’s season got off to a picture-perfect start this past weekend as they went undefeated in the Baseball at the Beach tournament hosted by No. 25 Coastal Carolina.

Despite Duke’s 3-0 start to their season, even with a win over a top-25 Chanticleers team in their home stadium, D1Baseball didn’t move the Blue Devils up in their latest poll.

At the top, the class of the ACC remains Wake Forest as the Demon Deacons held steady as the No. 1 team in the country after dominating their first three games of the season. Arkansas moved up from third to second, and LSU moved up from fourth to third.

Florida dropped from second to fifth as the Gators lost their only game of the season to St. John’s. Their remaining weekend games were canceled due to inclement weather.

Another ACC foe for the Blue Devils, the Clemson Tigers, stays strong at No.10 after they swept Xavier behind some explosive offense. N.C. State remained at 13 despite a 2-1 weekend, while UNC remained at 15th after a perfect 3-0 weekend.

Duke will get a boost on its NCAA Tournament resume as their opening day opponent, Indiana, vaulted themselves into the Top 25 after a 2-1 showing in Conway, South Carolina. Their only loss was to the Blue Devils on Friday, but they bounced back and beat George Mason and Coastal to wrap up the weekend.

Duke will return to Durham to kick off a 10-game homestand. The first of those ten home games will come Wednesday as they host Liberty. Liberty started their season with a three-game sweep of Quinnipiac. The Flames were also selected to finish second in conference standings in its first season in the league by the head coaches in the 2024 CUSA Preseason Baseball Poll.

Duke overwhelms George Mason in 11-homer, 23-run offensive display

A home run derby broke out in Durham on Saturday as the Blue Devils launched a program-record 11 homers during a 23-5 victory.

You know, most of the team when a baseball team records five runs and seven hits in a game, it probably feels pretty good about itself at the end of the day.

Not so for George Mason on Saturday in Durham.

The No. 14 Blue Devils won their second straight game to start the season in a mammoth 23-5 win over the Patriots as Duke hit a program-record 11 home runs within one game.

The fireworks came early and often for the Duke team. After George Mason scored one run in the top half of the first, recent Harvard transfer Logan Bravo doubled home the first Blue Devils run of the day.

Duke didn’t stop there.

Freshman AJ Gracia, who got the start in right field on Saturday, stepped into the batter’s box still without a collegiate hit after a three-walk debut against Indiana. He made his first hit a memorable one, launching an absolute moonshot to right field for a three-run home run.

In the very next at-bat, centerfielder Devin Obee bounced a line drive off the center field wall and made his way around for an inside-the-park home run. Just three batters after him, shortstop Wallace Clark and second baseman Zac Morris launched back-to-back shots to give Duke an 8-1 lead before the end of the first.

Gracia didn’t slow down after his three-run jack, either. The freshman came to the plate for his second at-bat of the game in the second inning, again with two runners on base. How does one follow up his first collegiate home run, you may ask? With his second collegiate home run.

If you’re gonna do something twice, however, you might as well do it a third time just for good measure. In the bottom of the seventh, Gracia again pounded a ball over the fence, this time to right-center field with, you guessed it, two runners on base.

Gracia finished his second collegiate game with four hits, three home runs, and nine RBIs.

Obee also decided that an inside-the-park home run wasn’t quite the same as the firepower his teammates were showing off, so he decided to hit another home run in the sixth inning, this time the old-fashioned way by powering a ball over the left-field fence.

The Patriots kept adding runs wherever they could, scoring two more in the top of the third and another in the top of the seventh, but Duke had 13 runs by the end of the third inning.

Not to be outdone by his classmate Gracia, freshman Kyle Johnson tossed three scoreless innings from the fourth through the sixth in his first appearance on the mound in Durham.

The Blue Devils kept the fireworks show going in the seventh inning when third baseman Ben Miller fired an opposite-field bomb for Duke’s eighth home run of the game, a new program record. Gracia’s third homer followed, as did Morris’s second to give the Blue Devils 10 home runs in the first seven innings.

Freshman Chase Krewson joined in on his classmates’ fun right at the buzzer, knocking a ball over the right-field fence into the parking lot for the 11th and final home run of the day.

The offensive explosion added up to a 23-5 victory for Duke and a second straight win to open the season. The Blue Devils end their opening weekend on Sunday against No. 18 Coastal Carolina at 3:00 p.m. ET.

No. 12 Duke kicks off 2024 campaign with 6-3 win over Indiana behind Santucci, transfer Logan Bravo

No.12 Duke baseball kicked off 2024 campaign with a 6-3 win over Indiana.

Friday started what head baseball coach Chris Pollard hopes to be a historic season for the Duke Blue Devils baseball team.

No. 12 Duke got their 2024 campaign started as they hope that this year is the year they break down the door and punch their ticket to Omaha, Nebraska, and the College World Series.

Duke started its campaign with a win over the Indiana Hoosiers of the Big 10. Preseason second-team All-American Jonathan Santucci has been tabbed as the ace of Duke’s staff, so it was only fitting the junior was given the ball in the season’s first game. His first inning was rocky as he allowed a walk and a hit but fought back to strike out three Hoosiers to get out of the gym.

Braden Risedorph started for Indiana and held the Blue Devils in check for four innings before the top of the fifth rolled around, and the Blue Devils scratched across their first run of the season. True freshman Kyle Johnson doubled with two outs and was knocked in on an RBI double from Oklahoma transfer Wallace Clark. Indiana would bring in Ryan Kraft, and he’d close the door on the Blue Devils in the fifth.

Santucci would give Duke one more scoreless inning before his day was over. He threw 86 pitches in his 2024 debut and struck out seven batters while walking two and allowing zero runs on four singles.

Back-to-back home runs by catcher and captain Alex Stone and Harvard transfer Logan Bravo stretched Duke’s lead to 3-0 in the top half of the sixth before Indiana answered with two runs courtesy of shortstop Tyler Cerny, who took Duke reliever Owen Proksch deep.

Duke responded with two more runs at the top of the seventh, thanks again to the combination of Stone and Bravo. Stone hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Wallace Clark. Bravo would come behind him and rip a single down the left-field line to score Zac Morris and make it 5-2 Duke.

Indiana pushed back on Duke again with a home run by center fielder Carter Mathison in the bottom of the seventh against Proksch before Pollard went to his bullpen to call on 2024 stopper-of-the-year nominee Charlie Beilinson to get Duke out of a two-on-and-one-out jam with the game at 5-3. Beilinson would do just that: strike out the two batters to end the Hoosiers’ threat and send the game to the 8th inning.

North Carolina native and sophomore outfielder Tyler Albright hit a hanging breaking ball deep to left field to give Duke a 6-3 lead in the top half of the eighth, and Beilinson would shut the door in the eight and ninth to end his day and secure the win for the Blue Devils.

Logan Bravo led the way with a 3/5 one-home run and two RBIs. Alex Stone had two RBIs as well. In total, Duke amassed ten hits and had zero errors defensively.

The Blue Devils will rest up and prepare for a Saturday matinee affair with the George Mason Patriots tomorrow with lefty Andrew Healy on the bump.

Duke baseball looking to clear final hurdle and get to Omaha as 2024 season is set to start Friday

Duke baseball gets set to open their 2024 season. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the Blue Devils’ season opener.

1961. 1961 was the last time a Duke Blue Devils baseball team made the College World Series.

Last year was about showing up every doubter of the Duke baseball program as the team broke every preseason expectation of them en route to a 39-24 record, coming up just one win short of a trip to Omaha, Nebraska.

Head coach Chris Pollard retooled the Duke roster in hopes of clearing that final hurdle and leading his program to heights not reached in over 50 years.

Duke will start the season ranked as the No. 12 team in the country. In short, they will not be sneaking up on anyone this year. And that presents one of many challenges the Blue Devils will face this year: going from solely the hunters to being hunted while still hunting the class of the ACC, Wake Forest, Clemson, and Virginia as they too pursue a trip to Omaha.

The question now is: How does Duke live up to and exceed last year’s results?

It starts with their pitching. Duke’s pitching staff last year was unconventional but highly effective. At season’s end, they had the 18th-best ERA in the country. They’ll need to keep Duke in games as the bevy of transfers and new faces in the lineup, especially around the infield, begin to gel.

The staff’s ace is preseason second-team All-American Jonathan Santucci, a lefty with big strikeout stuff. James Tallon, Fran Oschell, and Andrew Healy are talented pitchers who received preseason award buzz. With that core four of pitching along with reliever Charlie Beilenson, Duke should remain competitive in many games.

They also should get a boost from two-way true freshman Kyle Johnson, who is expected to start in the outfield while contributing a solid number of innings on the mound for the Blue Devils.

Johnson was among the 50 best high school prospects per Perfect Game and was named the number one impact freshman in the ACC during the fall by D1Baseball. Expectations are high, but many around the Duke program believe they are warranted.

Duke’s season will depend on health and how long their revamped infield takes to gel. The Blue Devils lost every infielder from last year’s team that made it to Super Regionals. Some hit the transfer portal, and others were drafted in the MLB Draft last June.

Ben Miller (Penn), Logan Bravo (Harvard), Ben Weaver (Wheaton), and Wallace Clark (Oklahoma) are just a few of the names that transferred in with significant opportunities to start in Duke’s infield. They all have over 50 games of starting experience, so they are far from inexperienced. They’ll need to hit the ground running and quickly find their stride at the plate. As soon as Duke’s nonconference schedule ends, they’ll jump right into conference play, where the ACC is home to five other top-20 teams, and Duke will open ACC play by taking on four of them to start.

As the Blue Devils ready themselves for a weekend slate of games in the Baseball at the Beach tournament hosted by No. 18 Coastal Carolina, they do so knowing that this season won’t be easy. They open up this weekend with Indiana, George Mason, and Coastal Carolina.

The possibilities for this team can be sky-high, but things could get scary if their pitching, health, and offense don’t gel in unison. Nonetheless, this team is talented enough to get to Omaha. Will they?

We’re about to find out.

Providence lands George Mason head coach Kim English to replace Ed Cooley

Kim English was announced on Thursday as the next head coach of Providence.

The Providence Friars had a whirlwind of the last week after getting eliminated in the Round of 64 by the Kentucky Wildcats, 61-53.

Reports surfaced that Ed Cooley was the top target for the Georgetown Hoyas opening after the school fired Patrick Ewing. Cooley would accept the job and leave Providence after a 12-year stint as the head basketball coach. The Providence, Rhode Island, native opted to leave for a rival Big East school.

The Friars acted swiftly as they were tasked with finding a replacement for Cooley. On Thursday, the school announced they officially hired Kim English of George Mason to take over the men’s basketball program.

The Baltimore native played for the Missouri Tigers before the Detroit Pistons drafted him in the second round of the 2012 NBA draft. After a brief run as a professional, English turned to coaching in 2015 as an assistant with the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. He also served as an assistant with the Colorado Buffaloes and Tennessee Vols before being named George Mason’s head coach in 2021.

During his short tenure with the Patriots, English led George Mason to a 34-29 overall record and 18-16 in A10 conference play. This past season the team finished 20-13 (11-7) but missed out on postseason play.

English will now have the opportunity to run the Friars program.

“I am beyond excited to be named head men’s basketball coach at Providence College,” English said in a release from Providence. “I want to thank Father Sicard and Steve Napolillo for this incredible opportunity. I want to be clear to everyone in Friartown, we are going to do great things at Providence College for a long time. I know that this is a special place with amazing fans, a great tradition and support throughout the community. We look forward to establishing new relationships with the players, the alums and the fans. The work begins now!”

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