In the weekend before ACC play starts, Duke’s baseball team swept Northwestern and seems to have steadied itself after a sputtering start to the season.

The Blue Devils (7-5) went into the weekend under .500 and won a couple of lopsided games, sandwiching a comeback win on Saturday against the Wildcats (5-5). Duke has a mid-week game against N.C. A&T before welcoming ACC newcomer California to Jack Coombs Field next weekend.

“Our at-bats got better as the weekend went along,” Duke coach Chris Pollard said on Sunday via news release. “They were the best defensive team we have played to this point, and they are going to win a lot of games this season.

“I thought we started to play more clean. We are starting to clean up some of the mistakes that led to big innings early. We are also starting to be more opportunistic at the plate but also taking the free offense when it is there.”

Here is a recap of each game this weekend:

On Friday, the Blue Devils busted open a one-run game with a nine-run bottom of the sixth.

Duke’s lead was 5-4 at that time, having scored three in the first and two in the fifth. In between, Northwestern got four runs in the second.

The Blue Devils’ big sixth started with Ben Miller’s leadoff home run. Tyler Albright doubled in a run and Jake Berger had a two-run single. Three bases-loaded walks accounted for some more of the scoring.

Duke’s Ben Rounds was 3-for-5 and a double shy of the cycle, hitting a two-run triple in the first and a solo homer in the fifth. Albright was also 3-for-5 and Berger was 3-for-6.

On the mound, Kyle Johnson (1-2) navigated that rough second inning for his first win of the season. He pitched five innings, allowing four runs on five hits and two walks. Duke’s five-man bullpen effort combined to allow three hits, two walks and one run across the last four innings, striking out seven. Those relievers were Ryan Calvert, Reid Easterly, Edward Hart, Mark Hindy and Marcell Mastroianni.

On Saturday, Northwestern scored four runs in the first two innings and rallied late to take the lead, and then held on for the win.

The Wildcats’ lead was 4-1 before Berger had a two-run double in the fifth.

Duke grabbed its first lead of the game when Miller, who homered in the first, had a two-out, two-run single in the seventh. That made it 5-4, and the Blue Devils added an insurance run in the form of Andrew Yu’s two-out RBI single in the eighth.

With two singles, a walk and a wild pitch, Northwestern cut the deficit to one run and put the tying run on third base in the ninth. But Owen Proksch, who pitched the last two innings for the save, notched a strikeout to end the game.

Ryan Higgins gave up four runs on six hits in the first two innings, recording four outs. Gabe Nard pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings in relief, steadying things for Duke, and Easterly (1-0) got through two scoreless innings on just 12 pitches for the decision.

On Sunday, Duke gave up a run in the first inning and quickly erased the deficit with a seven-run bottom half of the inning.

Wallace Clark and Berger walked to start Duke’s at-bat in the first, and then Miller launched another first-inning homer. That wasn’t even the biggest hit of the inning — after another couple of walks, a single and pitching change mixed in, Jake Hyde hit a grand slam.

That was the game’s only scoring until the bottom of the seventh, when Duke scored its other four runs. Those were on some station-to-station plays, with a bunt single by Clark and an error attached, a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch for Miller, an RBI groundout by Rounds and a wild pitch.

Northwestern scored that run in the first on a bases-loaded walk, one of three surrendered in that inning by James Tallon. He pitched two innings, walking four and giving up two hits.

It was another five-man effort from Duke’s bullpen. Henry Zatkowski (1-1) entered next and pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings for the win, striking out five and only allowing one baserunner. Aidan Weaver, Hart and Jack Hedrick had scoreless appearances, while Gavin Brown gave up one run.