Duke baseball weekend recap

Duke won its fifth and sixth straight ACC games by sweeping Pittsburgh in a baseball doubleheader on Saturday.

The Blue Devils had a five-run lead in going for a series sweep before blowing the finale on Sunday.

The Blue Devils (26-10, 11-7 ACC) won the first two games in polar opposite fashion; the score of the first game was 14-4 and it ended after seven innings because of the 10-run rule. Pitt (14-18, 4-14) scored the first three runs of the second game and Duke rallied for a 4-3 win.

Pitt won the finale 11-10, scoring the final six runs of the game.

Here is a recap of each game this weekend:

On Sunday, a rollercoaster of a game saw Pitt take a 4-1 lead through four innings, and then Duke take a 10-5 lead into the bottom of the seventh, before Pitt rallied to salvage a game in the series.

Pitt got all three of its runs in the seventh on a homer by Tyler Bischke, which made it 10-8. That damage came against reliever James Tallon.

In the eighth, three of the first four Pitt batters got singles against Jimmy Romano (1-1), who had finished the seventh. C.J. Funk was the third in line, and his hit drove in the first run. Charlie Beilenson entered and the first batter he faced reached on a fielder’s choice, loading the bases. Bischke hit a single that tied the game, and Jonah St. Antoine followed up with the go-ahead single.

Duke got a leadoff single in the ninth by Devin Obee and he was at second base because of a throwing error. The Blue Devils failed to advance him with a sacrifice bunt, Obee got to third on a groundout that was the second out of the inning, and Harrison Rodgers struck out to end the game.

Obee had Duke’s best day, going 3-for-5 with four RBI. He had a solo homer in the fourth for Duke’s first run and hit a three-run homer in the fifth that put the Blue Devils ahead 5-4.

Zac Morris, AJ Gracia and Alex Stone all had two-hit days atop Duke’s lineup, with Stone driving in three runs (both of his hits were doubles). Kyle Johnson was 2-for-3.

Four of the five pitchers who entered the game for Duke were charged with allowing runs, and the one who wasn’t (Beilenson) allowed both inherited runners to score. David Boisvert gave up one run in 1 2/3, Ryan Higgins allowed three in his 3 1/3, and Tallon and Romano gave up a combined seven runs.

In Saturday’s first game, Duke scored three runs in the second inning and then busted the game open with a seven-run third.

Alex Stone led Duke’s offense, going 4-for-5 with four RBI. He and Logan Bravo hit back-to-back homers to lead off the third.

The bottom three batters of Duke’s lineup — Wallace Clark, Tyler Albright and Harrison Rodgers — all had two-hit games and scored twice each. Albright and Zac Morris, Duke’s leadoff hitter, both had two RBI.

Jonathan Santucci pitched four innings, giving up all four of Pitt’s runs (only one was earned). He allowed four hits and three walks, striking out eight and needing 95 pitches to get through four innings.

Gabriel Nard (2-2) pitched what wound up being the last three innings, allowing a hit and a walk, striking out five.

In Saturday’s second game, Duke had one hit through the first five innings, and it was a first-inning single that saw a runner thrown out at the plate, before it scored four runs in the last four innings.

Bravo hit a two-run homer in the sixth to bring the Blue Devils within one of Pitt’s lead. Morris hit a solo homer in the eighth to tie the game.

Bravo doubled to lead off the ninth, and was sacrifice bunted to third by Clark. Devin Obee’s sacrifice fly gave Duke its only lead of the game.

Closer Charlie Beilenson (3-2) was unavailable for the save because he was already in the game. He pitched the eighth and ninth, allowing one walk and striking out four of the seven batters he faced.

That was the tail end of a dominant game from Duke’s bullpen. Starter Kyle Johnson gave up three runs on two hits and three walks in his 2 1/3 innings; Jimmy Romano and Owen Proksch pitched the next 1 1/3 each, each of them allowing only one runner.

Fran Oschell III pitched two hitless inning, walking two and striking out two in the sixth and seventh.