Published Jun 11, 2023
Blue Devils drop super regional series
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Conor O'Neill  •  DevilsIllustrated
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Virginia bashes Duke in decisive game to reach College World Series

Duke’s pitching staff ran out of gas and came up one win shy of reaching the College World Series.

Virginia beat Duke 12-2 on Sunday at Disharoon Park, winning the final two games of the best-of-3 super regional series to punch its ticket to Omaha next week.

The Cavaliers (50-12) are headed to their sixth College World Series, all of them since 2009; Duke remains in search of its first trip to Omaha since 1961.

Duke (39-24) ran out of steam and used nine pitchers, five of whom were charged with giving up runs and six of whom gave up at least one of Virginia’s 13 hits.

Virginia put its first two runners on in the first inning with a double and a walk but Duke starter Ryan Higgins sidestepped that trouble by inducing pop-ups by Jake Gelof and Kyle Teel, and getting a flyout to end the inning.

The Blue Devils couldn’t escape similar trouble in the second, though.

Higgins, who hadn’t pitched since May 20, gave up a double and walk to start the second and was pulled for Charlie Beilenson. After a sacrifice bunt, six straight batters reached against Beilenson — four via singles, two of them via walks.

The game stagnated for a while after that and Duke was within striking distance at 5-2 after Jay Beshears hit a two-run homer in the top of the sixth.

That was similar to Duke rallying to within one during Saturday’s 14-4 loss, and what followed Sunday was also similar.

Virginia put up four runs in the sixth, the last two coming on a two-run homer by Ethan Anderson. That made it 9-2, and the Cavaliers tacked on two more runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to make it two 10-run wins to end the series.