After knocking off UNC-Chapel Hill in the “Duel at the DBAP” Tuesday, the No. 2 NC State baseball team will travel to Durham to take on No. 8 Duke this weekend in a three-game battle between the leaders of the Atlantic and Coastal divisions of the ACC.
The Wolfpack (29-7, 13-5 ACC) will seek its seventh straight ACC series win this season and the Blue Devils (30-8, 12-5 ACC) will look to bounce back from a midweek loss against No. 11 East Carolina University Tuesday.
The Blue Devils’ strength is certainly their bullpen. While the weekend rotation is formidable in its own right, Duke’s relief corps features several lockdown options and lots of depth.
Fifth-year senior and Creighton transfer Ethan DeCaster owns a microscopic 0.32 ERA in 28 .1 innings pitched out of the bullpen, striking out 33 batters and exhibiting excellent control by walking just two opposing batters.
Jack Labosky is another bullpen piece for the Blue Devils. The right-hander, who also plays third base, has yet to give up a run in 18 innings of relief. He’s been less successful at the plate, batting just .208 but also gets on base at a solid clip, walking 18 times with a .360 on-base percentage.
Other contributors to the bullpen success are Matt Dockman, Bill Chillari and Graeme Stinson, all of which have an ERA under 3.00.
Another forte for Duke is its ability to get on base. The team has a collective 172 walks. More impressive, however, is how many times the Blue Devils reach base by way of a hit by pitch. The team’s batters have been plunked an ACC-best 67 times, with Labosky leading the way at 14.
By comparison, the Wolfpack offense has garnered just 24 hit by pitches this season, the fewest in the conference. Duke’s offense runs on getting on base in any possible way, and NC State pitchers will have to be cautious when working on the inner half of the dish.
Series openers have proven tough for NC State this season. Despite winning the past six series, the Pack has lost the opener in four straight series. The fact that the team has struggled in the first game could be traced to having just two solidified weekend starters in graduate student Johnny Piedmonte and senior Brian Brown.
Piedmonte has only gone seven innings combined in his last two starts, and the Wolfpack could use come length from him in his turn on the mound this weekend. He did go seven innings against Virginia Tech back in March, a better indicator of his solid, steady performance this season.
Brown has been spectacular all season and has yet to be charged with a loss in nine starts, pitching to an excellent 1.09 ERA in 57.2 innings. Sophomore Michael Bienlien has received six starts, but owns just a 5.04 ERA. Avent usually opts for more bullpen-heavy games when Bienlien takes the hill, but if he can find some consistency, the rotation could be excellent down the stretch.
It should be an entertaining, well-played series between the two teams, featuring lots of offense and pitching changes. Expect both teams to rely heavily on their bullpens. Duke and NC State may not have the same makeup offensively, but it’ll be the two top dogs in the ACC battling it out.
The Friday game will take place at 6 p.m. with the Saturday and Sunday games set to start at 1 p.m. The games will be played at Jack Coombs Field in Durham.
