Duke Takes Down No. 1 Wake Forest, Headlines College Baseball Roundup

Image credit: (Photo courtesy of Duke)

Opening weekend of ACC play treated college baseball fans to an enticing showdown between top-ranked Wake Forest and No. 12 Duke. Not only did the two teams come into Friday’s opener with one loss apiece, they also would provide one of the best pitching matchups of the season with Preseason All-American lefthanders Josh Hartle and Jonathan Santucci squaring off.

While that pitcher’s duel never materialized and both Hartle and Santucci were knocked out of the game early, the night provided plenty of drama. The game went back and forth early before the Blue Devils pulled away in the middle innings for an 8-5 victory. It was Duke’s first win against a top-ranked opponent since it beat No. 1 Miami on April 16, 2016.

Outfielder AJ Gracia played hero for the Blue Devils. He went 4-for-5 with a double, two home runs and drove in five runs. He had hits in each of his first four plate appearances and drove in at least one run each time. His two-run home run in the fourth inning gave Duke the lead for good and his solo shot in the sixth inning proved to be the final run of the game.

It wasn’t all Gracia, however. Third baseman Ben Miller also went 4-for-5, including a pair of doubles, and first baseman Logan Bravo went 2-for-4 with a double, a triple and three runs.

All told, it was another big day for the Duke offense, which came into the game ranked 10th in the nation in scoring (10.8 runs per game). For it to continue that onslaught against the Wake pitching staff (3.51 team ERA, 20th nationally) and Hartle, a projected first-rounder, was all the more impressive.

“I give a lot of credit to our hitting coach Eric Tyler,” Duke coach Chris Pollard said. “He came in with a great gameplan and went opposite of what most teams have done against Hartle. We tried to get right up on the plate and take the cutter away from him and it really worked. Our guys were bought into it.”

Duke also got a big night from its bullpen. Santucci came into the game having not allowed a run in 17 innings to start the season. The Demon Deacons quickly put an end to that streak, putting up two runs in the first inning, and eventually knocking the lefthander out in the third inning. That put a lot of pressure on the Duke bullpen, but it answered the bell.

Lefthander Owen Proksch (1.1 IP), righthander Gabriel Nard (2 IP) and righthander Charlie Beilenson (3 IP) combined for 6.1 scoreless innings. That trio held the Demon Deacons to three hits and four walks. Wake’s lone real threat came in the seventh, when it loaded the bases on two walks and a hit with no outs, but Beilenson wriggled out of the jam, not allowing the ball out of the infield.

It wasn’t a dominant performance, but for the Blue Devils to go on the road and beat the top-ranked team in the country without getting even nine outs from their ace, a projected first rounder, it spoke volumes about their upside. Duke (12-1) has a chance the rest of the weekend to send a message to the rest of the ACC. It hasn’t won the ACC regular-season title since 1961, but a road series win against the reigning champion and preseason favorite would be quite the marker to lay down to start conference play.

Ace Watch

Friday night is for the aces. Here we highlight some of the best pitching performances of the day.

Jake Babuschak, RHP, Sacred Heart: Babuschak threw a three-hit shutout to lead Sacred Heart to a 2-0 win at Fairleigh Dickinson. He struck out four batters and walked one as he threw the program’s first solo shutout since 2016. Babuschak, a senior, improved to 1-3, 4.64 on the season.

Caden Favors, LHP, Wichita State: Favors threw seven scoreless innings to help the Shockers to a 4-1 victory against Long Beach State. He struck out 10 batters and held the Dirtbags to two hits and two walks. Favors improved to 3-0, 1.59 with 35 strikeouts and six walks on the season and has now thrown consecutive scoreless innings.

Jacob Frost and Jackson Wentworth, Kansas State: Frost and Wentworth combined to throw a no-hitter in K-State’s 4-0 victory against Cincinnati. Frost threw the first seven innings, striking out four and walking two, before Wentworth took over for the final two innings. Their no-hitter was the program’s first since Parker Rigler threw one March 5, 2017, against Eastern Illinois.

Luke Holman, RHP, LSU: Holman was again sensational for the Tigers, throwing six hitless innings in a 4-0 win against Xavier. He struck out 10 batters and worked around two walks and two hit batters. Holman improved to 4-0, 0.00, has yet to allow a run in 24 innings this season and has 40 strikeouts and just four walks.

Ryan Johnson, RHP, Dallas Baptist: Johnson threw seven scoreless innings to help lead DBU to a 9-2 victory against San Diego. He struck out eight batters and scattered five hits and a walk. Johnson improved to 2-0, 2.77 with 42 strikeouts and three walks in 26 innings.

Ryan Prager, LHP, Texas A&M: Prager struck out 13 batters in seven scoreless innings as the Aggies rolled to an 11-0 victory against Rhode Island. The redshirt sophomore allowed just one hit – a two-out single in the third inning – and walked none. Prager (4-0, 0.00) continued his sizzling start to the season. He has not allowed a run in 23.2 innings and has struck out 40 batters and walked three.

Around the Horn

• Kansas defeated No. 5 TCU, 3-1, to open Big 12 play, handing the Horned Frogs their first loss of the season. TCU (13-1, 0-1) scored a run in the first inning but had its bats silenced the rest of the night, as Reese Dutton (7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 8 K), Tegan Cain (1 IP, 3 K) and Hunter Cranton (1 IP, 3 K) combined to give up just four hits. The big blow came from Chase Diggins, Kansas’ nine-hitter, as he hit a two-run home run in the fifth inning that provided all the offense the Jayhawks (8-4, 1-0) needed on the night.
• No. 19 UC Irvine split a doubleheader, thrashing Columbia, 32-2, in the first game and then losing, 13-1, to host Fresno State in the nightcap. That loss was the Anteaters first of the season, dropping them to 12-1. After setting the program’s single-game record for runs against Columbia, UCI was held to three-hits by Fresno State.
• While TCU and UCI suffered their first losses of the season, No. 24 Florida State and No. 11 Texas A&M both won, leaving two undefeated teams in the country. The Seminoles (12-0) defeated New Orleans, 13-0, and the Aggies (14-0) took down Rhode Island, 11-0.
• Miami rallied late to defeat No. 8 Virginia, 6-5. Freshman Daniel Cuvet hit a two-out, three-run home run in the seventh inning that provided the winning margin for the Hurricanes. Miami was held to just five hits on the night but they made them count and made Virginia pay for two costly errors, as six of the Hurricanes’ runs were unearned.
• No. 23 Texas routed No. 14 Texas Tech, 22-8, in Lubbock. The win was a big one for the Longhorns, who snapped a four-game losing streak, while the Red Raiders saw their seven-game winning streak end. Texas got a big night from freshman center fielder Will Gasparino, who went 5-for-6 with two doubles and a home run. The Longhorns 22 runs matched their highest ever total against the Red Raiders.