Two of Duke baseball’s best senior contributors earn All-America honors.
While Duke’s season was far from what they wanted it to be, Chris Pollard, his staff, and his players had one heck of a baseball season. They reached new heights in the polls, had a historic offensive season, and won the second ACC Tournament title in program history. Bowing out before making it to Omaha in the NCAA Tournament will sting and inevitably serve as fuel for next year’s squad.
Replicating some of this year’s team’s magic will be difficult, considering the Blue Devils must replace some significant contributors in the offseason.
Two of those contributors are major holes because they were good players, great leaders, and all-American caliber players.
Charlie Beilenson was one of the nation’s best relievers and was named a National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association first-team All-American. His 2024 was remarkable. In 2024, he appeared in 34 games on the mound, posting a 7-3 record with a 2.01 ERA. He worked 62.2 innings, allowing 14 earned runs and striking out 92 of the 226 batters he faced. Beilenson held opponents to a .181 average and walked just 18 batters. Earlier this week, he was named a Perfect Game First Team Relief Pitcher and an ABCA/Rawlings First Team Relief Pitcher. If that wasn’t enough, he’s a Stopper of the Year finalist. Whenever Chris Pollard needed outs from the seventh inning onward, Beilenson was available and almost always answered the call. He was as consistent a player as Pollard had all year.
If Beilenson was the most consistent pitcher Pollard could depend on, Zac Morris was the bat his coaches could believe in every time he came to the plate. It shouldn’t be surprising that he was named NCBWA third-team All-American. The former transfer from VMI, Morris, was named the third team’s second baseman. He was an All-ACC First Team second baseman during the 2024 campaign. In his 60 games played, Morris produced a .343 average at the plate, posting a robust OPS of 1.068. He registered 245 at-bats, scoring 69 runs and collecting 84 hits to lead the Blue Devils. Morris added 12 doubles, two triples, a career-high 18 home runs, 59 RBI, and walked 39 times.
He was a walking offensive powerhouse at the top of the Duke lineup. He played a terrific second base in the field, too.
Both players are set to move on to professional endeavors and will look to be drafted in the upcoming 2024 MLB Draft.
