Duke baseball weekend recap

Duke split a couple of blowouts at Virginia and jumped on the Cavaliers in the decisive third game to win a third straight ACC series against a ranked team.

The Blue Devils (31-13, 14-9 ACC) have won seven of their last nine ACC games, all of which came against teams that were ranked in the top 15.

It’s put Duke atop the division, leading Miami (28-16, 14-10) by a half-game.

Duke is off this week and doesn’t have an ACC series next weekend, with only a doubleheader against Longwood scheduled for Sunday. The Blue Devils are home against Georgia Tech from May 12-14, and then head to Miami for what could be a three-game series to determine the Coastal Division champ (May 18-20).

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Here is a recap of each game this weekend:

On Friday, Duke ran its winning streak to eight by scoring the most runs against an ACC team this season.

The Blue Devils were in control with a 5-1 lead through six innings, put in that position by MJ Metz’s two-run homer in the first inning and RBIs in the third by Alex Stone, Metz and Giovani DiGiacomo.

Duke turned the series opener into a rout with a five-run seventh that didn’t need a homer. The Blue Devils sent 11 batters to the plate, getting RBI singles by Tyler Albright and DiGiacomo, plus a two-run single by Jay Beshears (on a 0-2 pitch). Damon Lux bunted in a run for the other run.

Stone added a solo homer in the eighth, and then a six-run ninth closed the door on any crazy comebacks. Big hits in that inning were a two-run homer by Luke Storm and a two-run double by DiGiacomo, who was 4-for-6 with four RBI.

Stone also had a 4-for-6 game, scoring four times, and Beshears, Metz and Albright all had three hits apiece.

Duke got another strong start from Alex Gow, who gave up one run on three hits and two walks in four innings. He’s given up 12 hits and eight runs in 18 innings across his last four appearances, the bulk of which came in the only game in a three-game series that was a loss at Boston College.

Owen Proksch and Charlie Bielenson had scoreless relief outings, while Fran Oschell III gave up one run and Jason White surrendered three.

On Saturday, things got away from the Blue Devils in the late innings, as the Cavaliers evened the three-game series.

Beshears hit a solo homer in the top of the sixth to tie the game at 2-2; both of Duke’s runs came on homers, with Stone launching one in the fourth.

Virginia (35-11, 13-11) mounted a two-out rally with three runs in the sixth, scored another three in the seventh, and added two in the eighth to make the score lopsided.

Ryan Higgins started for Duke and gave up two runs on two hits and two walks in his four innings. All four relievers — Proksch, Bielenson, Edward Hart and Aidan Weaver — were charged with at least one run allowed and one hit.

On Sunday, Duke bounced back to win the series by scoring six runs in the first four innings.

From there, the Blue Devils rode a four-man relief effort after Andrew Healy (5-1) provided three shutout innings to start the game.

Those relievers were Adam Boucher, who gave up a run in his only inning (the fourth) and Gabriel Nard, who gave up two runs in two innings of work. Oschell pitched a scoreless seventh and James Tallon recorded a six-out effort to close the game, working around one walk and having a double play lineout in the ninth help him after a leadoff bunt single.

DiGiacomo and Storm drove in runs in the first inning with hits, and Lux added a sac fly. Stone drove in Duke’s next two runs, first with a solo homer in the third and then with a single in the fourth. Metz tacked on a single in the fourth to stake the Blue Devils to that 6-0 lead.

Albright added an RBI groundout in the seventh.