Duke enters season with more stability, higher expectations

Turning every game into an all-hands-on-deck bullpen affair was what Duke’s baseball team needed to do last season to win.

“We’re not going to change now. We are who we are here, down the stretch,” coach Chris Pollard said back in June, on the eve of Duke’s trip to Virginia for a best-of-3 super regional.

Of course, that was eight months ago. And that’s enough time for change to occur in how a pitching staff is assembled.

“We were successful in an unconventional style last year, but I think ultimately it put a lot of stress on our bullpen down the stretch,” Pollard said entering this season. “That workload caught up to them late in the season. So, we’d like to lengthen out our starters.”

Duke’s Friday night starter will be Jonathan Santucci, and his credentials are covered here.

Two physically imposing sophomores will be the other weekend starters. Lefty Andrew Healy will start Saturday, and Aidan Weaver will start Sunday.

Healy (6-6, 200) was extended toward the second half of his freshman season, starting 11 games, including the opener of the super regional at Virginia, which Duke won 5-4. He was named the Dick Howser pitcher of the month for his April, picking up the win in all five of his appearances and not allowing an earned run in any of those combined 19 innings.

Weaver (6-5, 230) never threw more than 49 pitches last season and only had two appearances (out of 24) longer than two innings. He only pitched twice after the regular season ended and didn’t appear in the super regional series.

“(Weaver) has made a big jump physically and has really added two plus off-speed pitches to a 97, 98 mph fastball,” Pollard said.

Going back to more of a traditional pitching approach still leaves some bullets in Duke’s bullpen.

Junior Fran Oschell III joins Santucci on a couple of lists of the top draft-eligible players in the country. He had a 0.69 ERA in 22 appearances (39 1/3 innings) last season, striking out 66 batters and allowing a batting average of .133.

Sophomore James Tallon, like Oschell, got a look as a potential starter before the weekend rotation was set. He’ll likely reprise his role as Duke’s closer, in which the lefty had 12 saves and a 1.64 ERA last year, along with 54 strikeouts in 33 innings.

Those two, plus Charlie Beilenson, are on the initial watch list for the stopper of the year award, given annually to the top reliever in college baseball. Beilenson transferred in from Brown before last season and was 6-3 with a 3.86 ERA. He pitched 60 2/3 innings, appearing in 39 of Duke’s 63 games.

Coming within a win of reaching Omaha and returning most of the pitchers who got the Blue Devils there spells out higher expectations entering this season.

Duke is ranked in each of college baseball’s five national polls. The Blue Devils are as high as No. 12 (D1Baseball), are 14th in two polls (Coaches and USBWA), 16th (Baseball America) and 23rd (Perfect Game).

It sets the stage for Duke to make good on Pollard’s “kick the door down” mantra. That’s become the program’s calling card, a way of setting things up for the Blue Devils to reach the College World Series for the first time since 1961.

“We’ve got a lot of returning guys, a lot of experience, and that only helps to have guys that have success at the highest level,” Oschell said. “That’s going to be big with this team, with as many new guys as we have, being able to blend that group of new guys with that group that was here last year and made it to that super regional.

“I think we have a good blend of that … guys that are just as hungry to get after it and be that group of guys that knock the door down.”

You’re bound to see more of the newcomers in the batting order than on the mound.

Catcher Alex Stone and outfielder Devin Obee are Duke’s only returning starters in the field. Pollard and his staff brought in seven transfers and nine freshmen. Three freshmen — AJ Gracia, Macon Winslow and Kyle Johnson — are projected to be in Duke’s starting lineup for the opener.

The Blue Devils aren’t exactly easing into the season.

Duke plays Indiana to start the season Friday, George Mason on Saturday, and Coastal Carolina — the host of this event — on Sunday. All four teams were in the NCAA tournament last season, with Duke winning as a 2-seed in Coastal Carolina’s regional, Indiana losing to Kentucky in the final game of that regional, and George Mason winning twice before being eliminated by Wake Forest.

One important note: All of Duke’s home games will be at Jack Coombs Field this season. The on-campus stadium is set for renovations to begin as soon as the season ends, as a new indoor facility will be built with a locker room, batting cages, athletic training room, classrooms, coaches offices and an indoor practice facility.