Duke lost a back-and-forth game in the series opener at Clemson and gave up six runs in the first inning of the series’ middle game.
The Blue Devils outscored Clemson 22-8 for the rest of the series, winning Saturday and Sunday to win the series.
“I just told our team; I thought that was toughness personified,” Duke coach Chris Pollard said after Sunday’s game, via news release. “I have never been a part of a more connected team. The energy, the way we were in it together.
“Anyone in this ballpark or watching on television had to feel that. It was real and palpable.”
Duke (35-16, 16-11 ACC) has won three straight ACC series with one more left before the ACC tournament, which is in Durham. The Blue Devils play at Liberty on Tuesday night and play host to Georgia Tech for a three-game series that starts Thursday.
Here are quick recaps of each game from this weekend:
Clemson 9, Duke 7
On Friday, Clemson rode two big innings past Duke and held off the Blue Devils’ rally.
The Tigers put up six runs in the fourth. A two-run single by Jack Crighton started the scoring, Andrew Ciufo hit an RBI single that made it a 3-2 game, and then Cam Cannarella hit a bases-clearing double.
Duke cut the deficit to one run after AJ Gracia hit a two-run single in the sixth, and Jake Hyde hit a solo homer in the seventh.
In the eighth, Crighton hit a sacrifice fly and Ciufo hit a two-run homer to give the Tigers breathing room.
The Blue Devils scored twice in the ninth and had the bases loaded with one out before Macon Winslow hit into a 6-4-3 double play.
Gracia paced Duke’s offense by going 4-for-5 with three RBI; he had a solo homer in the first. Tyler Albright and Hyde had two hits apiece for Duke.
Owen Proksch (2-2) was charged with all six of Clemson’s runs in the fourth, making him the pitcher of record. Reid Easterly gave up the Tigers’ other three runs.
Duke 15, Clemson 10
On Saturday, Duke pulled even in the series in spite of giving up a six-run first inning.
Of course, scoring 10 runs in an inning helps overcome a rough start.
Clemson scored six runs against Andrew Healy, who didn’t make it out of the first inning.
Duke whittled away at the lead for the next several innings. Winslow hit a solo homer in the second and Gracia hit one in the third — his second of the game, as he homered in the first inning before Clemson’s surge. Ben Rounds added an RBI single in the third and his solo homer in the fifth cut Clemson’s lead to 6-5.
That was the score when Duke pounded out 10 runs in the seventh. All but one of those were scored with two outs. The Blue Devils scored the first run on an error. Hyde had a two-run single to put them in the lead and after Rounds walked to force across another run, Sam Harris had a two-run single.
Jake Berger and Wallace Clark had back-to-back two-run doubles to close out the 10-run explosion.
That made it a 15-6 score and Clemson scored three runs in the bottom half of the inning, and then added one more in the ninth.
Kyle Johnson took over after Healy’s exit and pitched 1 2/3 innings without being charged with a run. Gabe Nard was the standout from Duke’s bullpen, pitching three scoreless and hitless innings. Seven of the nine outs he recorded were strikeouts.
Easterly pitched 1 2/3 innings and allowed three runs (one earned), and Gavin Brown pitched the last two innings.
Duke 8, Clemson 4
On Sunday, Clemson scored the first two and last two runs, which wasn’t enough to overcome another middle-innings surge by the Blue Devils.
After the Tigers (38-15, 15-12) scored two in the second inning, Duke tied it when Hyde homered and Winslow squeeze-bunted in a run in the fourth.
Duke took the lead on Gracia’s sacrifice fly in the fifth. After Ben Miller was hit by a pitch, Hyde launched a three-run homer to blow open the game; Albright followed him with a solo homer to make it a 7-2 lead.
Rounds was 3-for-3; Hyde and Albright each had two-hit games.
The Blue Devils added an insurance run in the eighth; Clemson scored twice in the ninth against James Tallon, who pitched the last two innings.
Henry Zatkowski (5-1) earned the win by pitching five innings. He gave up two runs on four hits and two walks. Mark Hindy pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings and Ryan Calvert struck out the only batter he faced.
