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Duke Baseball, Softball and Lacrosse gearing up for deep runs

May 1, 2024



With the transfer portal deadline on May 1, much of the offseason drama is coming to a close for Duke men's and women's basketball. Not entirely, of course, the Blue Devils still have spots to fill on their roster. However, there are some highly ranked non-basketball Duke squads that should be commanding fans attention this spring. Many of those teams are gearing up for potentially fruitful postseason runs.


With Duke Wisdom's launch of the @Duke_WisdomATHL page on X / Twitter, this article serves as an update for some of the notable high-performing sports right now in Durham: like baseball, softball and men's lacrosse, who are all ranked in the top 10 nationally.


Baseball

Record: 30-14 overall, 14-10 ACC, No. 10 nationally


Duke continues to chip away at a return to the College World Series for the first time in 63 years (since 1961). Many fans don't view the Blue Devils as a premiere baseball program, but over the last decade, that is beginning to really change.


In 2016, Duke ended a 55-year NCAA Tournament drought, and it only took two more seasons for the Blue Devils to make it to the Super Regionals in 2018. Duke won its region again in 2019, and for a third time last year (2023). Time after time it seems like Duke has the guns to get one game away from the CWS, but it doesn't have enough to get over that hump and seal a trip to Omaha. Those around the program will tell you, this year's team has a good chance of changing that.


In his 12th season at the helm, head coach Chris Pollard has his Blue Devils on-line to host their own region in the NCAA Tournament. Duke is ranked No. 10 nationally by D1Baseball.com. Perfect Game USA and Baseball America each have Duke tabbed No. 8 after dropping to the then No. 10 Florida State Seminoles in two out of three last weekend in Durham. Nonetheless, Duke has sat in or around the top 10 all season long as they battle a loaded ACC, which includes other top 25 or fringe top 25 programs: Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. The state of North Carolina has also provided a handful of quality non-ACC opponents for Duke as well, namely ECU and Campbell.


The Blue Devils bats have been electric all season. First baseman Ben Miller bats an NCAA ninth best .418. As a unit, Duke bats .312, good for 19th nationally. On the mound, Duke is led by projected MLB first-round draft pick, junior Jonathan Santucci.


There are ten games left in Duke's regular season before the ACC Tournament begins on May 21 at Truist Field in Charlotte, North Carolina. Duke will look to capture the ACC crown for just the second time ever (first time was in 2021).


The Blue Devils match-up with Longwood for a double-header this Sunday, May 5. Then it's off to Greenville to take on No. 7 ECU for one game before heading to Atlanta, Georgia for a three-game series against Georgia Tech. Duke then closes the season with a game against the College of Charleston at home (Free Admission on May 14 at 6 p.m.) and a three-game series against No. 15 UNC at home from May 16-18.



Softball

Record: 44-6 overall, 20-4 ACC, No. 5 nationally


The ACC Softball Tournament is nearly upon us with the opening round taking place on May 8, and Duke looks primed to take the crown.


In just the seventh year of the program's existence (although it's really just the sixth when you factor in the missed 2020 COVID season), Duke climbed to a No. 1 ranking nationally this season for the first time ever. The Blue Devils have been one of the most consistent and dominant threats nationwide all season.


While there is no long-standing CWS drought for softball given the youth of the program, there is still something to be said about making a serious push this soon. It won't be easy to dethrone defending champs Oklahoma, or take down No. 1 Texas, but the Blue Devils have serious championship hopes.


Duke's pitching has proved to be a gauntlet this year. The squad has the third best ERA in the country at 1.54, highlighted by senior Jala Wright, who has the sixth best ERA nationally at 1.15.


Softball's regular season wrapped up over the weekend in a series sweep over NC State. Now, the Blue Devils will sit at home and welcome the rest of the ACC to Durham as they host next week's ACC Tournament.



Men's Lacrosse

Record: 11-4 overall, 1-3 ACC, No. 3 nationally


Despite unexpectedly falling to rival UNC in the regular season closer, Duke held on to a spot in the upcoming ACC Tournament, where the Blue Devils, who are seeded third and ranked No. 3 nationally, will take on No. 2 seed and No. 4 overall Syracuse on Friday, May 5 at 8 p.m.


In their prior meeting on March 20, the Blue Devils dropped to the Orange 4-10. In fact, Duke's lone ACC win was over No. 6 Virginia in the penultimate game of the regular season. Although having just one conference win isn't quite as bad in lacrosse as it would be in other sports. Duke only played four ACC opponents, beating Virginia, and losing to UNC, Syracuse and Notre Dame. The only ACC program to miss the ACC Tournament was UNC.


It's well-known that the ACC is a gauntlet in lacrosse. If you can win the ACC Tournament, you could win the NCAA Tournament too. If Duke gets revenge on the Orange, it would take on the winner of Virginia and No. 1 Notre Dame, the same team that defeated Duke in last season's National Championship. If Duke wants to capture its first national title since 2014, it will have to go through the Fighting Irish to do it.





Ben McCormick | @Duke_Wisdom | @BenMcC33 | @Duke_WisdomATHL


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