Duke baseball weekend recap

Duke got off to a good start in its second ACC series of the season, and then Clemson finished the three-game series better.

The Blue Devils won the series opener against Clemson on Friday night, 5-2 at Jack Coombs Field. Clemson staved off Duke in the middle game, 8-7 on Saturday, and then won Sunday’s rubber game 8-6 in the 10th inning.

It’s the second of 10 ACC series this season, with Duke (15-5, 3-3 ACC) having won two of three at Wake Forest last weekend. This is Clemson’s (17-2, 2-1) first ACC series of the season.

Here is a recap of each game this weekend:

On Sunday, Duke rallied from a three-run deficit to tie the game in the eighth inning, and then fell a couple of innings later.

The Blue Devils got a two-run homer from AJ Gracia and a sacrifice fly by Wallace Clark in the eighth to tie the game at 5-5.

Clemson got a go-ahead homer from Jimmy Obertop in the 10th, and then a two-run homer from Jacob Hinderleider as insurance. It was needed, as Duke scratched across a run in the 10th on another sac fly by Clark — but that was all the Blue Devils could muster.

Charlie Beilenson (0-1) was charged with the loss, giving up two RBI doubles in the eighth (only one of those runs was charged to him, as he inherited one runner) and all three of Clemson’s runs in the 10th. Beilenson had not given up a run in 16 2/3 innings this season (eight appearances), including an eight-out save in the series opener.

Tim Noone got the start for Duke, giving up two runs in 1 1/3 innings. Ryan Higgins pitched the next 3 2/3, allowing one unearned run. Jimmy Romano pitched a scoreless inning in relief, too.

Duke’s early runs came on a solo homer by Ben Miller and Logan Bravo scoring on a passed ball.

On Saturday, Clemson went up 8-2 in the seventh inning and Duke almost came all the way back in the bottom half, but that was where the Blue Devils’ scoring ended.

Both teams scored in the first, and Duke took a 2-1 lead into the fifth because of an unearned run.

Clemson got a three-run homer from Jimmy Obertop in the fifth to take a lead, and then doubled its run total in the seventh when Tristan Bissetta hit a grand slam. Obertop’s homer came off of Edward Hart, who was facing his first batter after Gabriel Nard put two runners on. Bissetta’s slam came against Josh Allen, also the first (and only) batter he faced.

Duke’s runs in the seventh came first on a bases-loaded walk, and then a wild pitch. Alex Stone had a two-run single, and AJ Gracia drove him in with a single to make it a one-run game.

The Blue Devils got a two-out single in the eighth, but Zac Morris was caught stealing. Stone and Logan Bravo reached base with one out in the ninth, but a flyout and foul out ended the game.

On Friday, Jonathan Santucci gave up an early run but Duke’s offense picked him up with three runs in the bottom of the first, which turned out to be all the Blue Devils needed.

Clemson’s Cam Cannarella reached on an error by shortstop Wallace Clark to start the game, and scored on Santucci after a wild pitch, flyout and single by Blake Wright.

Duke regained momentum after Ben Miller walked and Alex Stone singled in the first, and then Logan Bravo hit a three-run homer. It was the third homer of the season for Bravo, a grad transfer from Harvard, and he blasted his fourth homer in the third inning for an insurance run.

Duke’s last run of the game, more insurance, came on a homer by freshman Macon Winslow.

Santucci gave up one more run, a homer by Wright in the fourth that made it 4-2. Duke’s lefty ace finished with five innings, two hits, three walks and 11 strikeouts.

Owen Proksch entered and pitched 1 1/3 innings, giving up a hit and two walks. He left two on with one out in the seventh for rubber-armed closer Charlie Beilenson, who got a strikeout and lineout to end that inning.

There was drama in the ninth, as Clemson got a leadoff single and a pair of two-out walks to put the tying run on base, before Beilenson got a groundout to first to end the game. That gave him his nation-leading eighth save of the season.