Duke baseball weekend recap

Duke started its baseball weekend on the most positive of notes and ended it having lost three of four, including a series loss to open its ACC slate.

The Blue Devils picked up a 5-0 win over Appalachian State on Tuesday with a combined 1-hitter. Alex Gow pitched five innings and allowed a hit in the fourth inning, with Owen Proksch and Charlie Bielenson pitching the final two innings each.

Duke dropped a Wednesday game against Northeastern 2-1, and then lost two of three to Wake Forest over the weekend.

The Blue Devils (10-6, 1-2 ACC) won the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader in a blowout, but Friday and Saturday’s later loss were two-run defeats.

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Here is a quick recap of each game this weekend:

On Friday, Duke scored the first four and the last two runs, but Wake Forest (15-2, 2-1) did enough damage in the middle innings to win the opener.

Duke scored four runs in the first three innings against reigning ACC pitcher of the year Rhett Lowder, with Alex Mooney drawing a bases-loaded walk and Tyler Albright recording an RBI groundout, along with Damon Lux’s two-run double.

Wake Forest tied the game with two runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings, all of those coming against Jonathan Santucci. He had 11 strikeouts and only gave up three hits, but walked four and needed 93 pitches to record 13 outs.

Brock Wilken broke a tie in the seventh inning with a three-run home run to finish off Wake’s comeback. Wilken’s blast came after Pierce Bennett led off the inning with a single and Nick Kurtz walked. It was the 12th homer of the season for Wilken, putting him into the national lead after he entered the weekend tied with Florida’s Jac Caglianone.

Michael Massey (2-0) pitched scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh and retired the first two batters of the eighth, but Duke’s Devin Obee hit a two-run homer to narrow the gap. Cole Roland notched the final out of the eighth before giving way to closer Camden Minacci, who picked up his third save with a scoreless ninth.

In Saturday’s first game, Duke scored four earned runs and four unearned runs and Wake Forest committed five errors.

Duke only scored one run in the first four innings, a homer by Andrew Fischer, before taking control with a three-run fifth. Obee scored on a wild pitch, and then on the same play, Alex Mooney scored on a throwing error. Jay Beshears added an RBI double.

That proved to be more than enough for Duke’s pitching staff, which held Wake Forest hitless until the seventh. Adam Boucher retired the first nine Deacons, and gave way to Proksch, who pitched three more hitless innings.

Fran Oschel III gave up the first hit but pitched two scoreless innings; Wake’s run didn’t come until there were two outs in the ninth.

In Saturday’s second game, Wake Forest scored all five of its runs in the first three innings and that proved enough for lefty Josh Hartle.

Wake’s first two runs scored on plays with errors, with Adam Cecere scoring in the second and Tommy Hawke in the third. Also in the third, Cecere doubled in two runs.

Obee had a heck of a weekend, going 5-for-9 with five RBI. That included a two-run homer in the fifth to get the Blue Devils back into the game, and had an infield single that scored a run in the ninth as Duke’s rally came up two runs short.