Duke walks off comeback win over Miami
Blue Devils complete sweep of Hurricanes with eighth-inning rally, and then 11th-inning comeback
Duke trailed by six entering the bottom of the eighth inning, rallied to tie Sunday’s series finale against Miami, and went down three in the 11th inning.
A four-run outburst in the 11th capped the Blue Devils’ wild 11-10 win over visiting Miami at Jack Coombs Field.
Starting with the eighth-inning rally makes sense, as Duke (24-8, 9-6 ACC) had six hits in the first seven innings but was unable to scratch much offense together before the eighth.
Chase Krewson started the scoring in the eighth with a one-out single that scored Ben Miller, and Alex Stone followed that up with an RBI double to drive in Logan Bravo. Wallace Clark walked, and the rally continued with Devin Obee getting hit by a pitch and Harrison Rodgers drawing a walk, both with the bases loaded.
Zac Morris hit a sacrifice fly to bring the Blue Devils to within one, and Miller’s two-out double drove in Obee and tied the game.
In the top of the 11th, Miami (15-16, 6-9) got run-scoring hits from Jacoby Long, Daniel Cuvet and Jack Scanlon to take a 10-7 lead.
Duke sent six batters to the plate in the 11th and none of them were retired. Miller led off the inning with a single, followed by AJ Gracia getting walked. Bravo singled to score Miller from second.
Next, Tyler Albright reached on a sacrifice bunt attempt because of a throwing error. That loaded the bases, and the next run scored on a balk. Stone was intentionally walked to reload the bases, and Clark delivered the two-run single that ended the game.
Miller was 4-for-6 and scored three times, extending his hitting streak to 13 games. He was a home run shy of the cycle. Stone was 3-for-5 and Krewson was 2-for-5.
Duke used 12 pitchers. The only one who faced double-digit batters was starter David Boisvert, who pitched 2 1/3 and gave up one run. Jimmy Romano retired all four batters he faced, and Fran Oschell III pitched two scoreless innings, allowing just a walk.
Of course, closer Charlie Beilenson pitched again — the fifth straight game he’s pitched. The iron-armed closer pitched the ninth and 10th innings, giving up a two-out single in the ninth and notching a 1-2-3 10th.
Owen Proksch and Nick Conte were charged with the damage in the 11th.