Duke baseball weekend recap

Duke fell too far behind in each of the first two games against Florida State and lost its first ACC series since March 22-24 against N.C. State.

The saving grace was that Duke scored so many runs in the series finale that it ended early.

The Blue Devils dropped Saturday’s middle game in the series 7-6, scoring four runs in the eighth and ninth innings combined, but that rally falling short.

Duke dropped the series opener in a tough-luck 4-2 loss on Friday night. The full story on that game can be found here.

Duke beat FSU 16-4 in Sunday’s finale, which ended in the seventh inning because of the 10-run rule.

Duke (30-14, 14-10 ACC) and FSU (34-9, 13-8) entered this weekend as the second-place teams in the Coastal and Atlantic divisions, respectively. The Blue Devils are now tied with Virginia in the division, trailing first-place UNC by three games.

Here is recap of the other games in the series:

On Sunday, FSU scored two runs in the top of the first, Duke scored two in the bottom of the first, and then Duke broke the game open with a 10-run second.

The Blue Devils sent 13 batters to the plate in the second. Zac Morris and AJ Gracia had RBI singles, and Morris later scored on a wild pitch. Logan Bravo had a two-run double, part of his 4-for-4 day.

The last five runs of the inning came on consecutive two-out homers. Kyle Johnson started that part of the rally with a three-run blast, and then Chase Krewson and Morris followed his lead.

Krewson and Morris both had three-hit games, with Morris scoring four times, Krewson scoring three runs. Johnson was 1-for-2 and scored three times.

Duke’s cushion to end the game early was provided by Gracia’s sacrifice fly and a two-run double by Alex Stone in the fourth. For good measure, Bravo added another RBI double in the sixth.

Ryan Higgins pitched the first three innings and was charged with allowing all four of FSU’s runs. He allowed five hits and a walk, striking out six. James Tallon (2-0) pitched two shutout innings and was awarded the win, and Charlie Beilenson pitched for the only time in the weekend, retiring all six batters he faced, to end the game.

On Saturday, FSU (34-8, 13-7 ACC) broke a 2-2 tie with Marco Dinges’ three-run home run in the fifth and notched two insurance runs in the sixth, which provided enough cushion to withstand a rally by Duke (29-14, 13-10).

Kyle Johnson (3-1) gave up FSU’s first five runs, as the freshman gave up six hits and a walk in his five innings. Jimmy Romano was charged with allowing FSU’s last two runs, those coming on an RBI double by Alex Lodise and an RBI single by Cam Smith.

Duke’s only runs through the first seven innings came on Devin Obee’s two-run homer in the fourth. Obee’s RBI groundout was Duke’s first run of its comeback, and Chase Krewson had a two-out, two-run single that made it a 7-5 deficit.

Ben Miller led off the bottom of the ninth with a homer that made it 7-6. AJ Gracia walked and Alex Stone singled to put the winning run on base; Logan Bravo struck out, the Blue Devils got runners to second and third with one out on a passed ball, but Obee popped up for the second out and Wallace Clark lined out to second base to end the game.

It’s the first time this season Duke has lost three straight games. Sunday’s series finale will Duke’s last game for a week, as the Blue Devils are coming up on their exam break.