NCAA Baseball Tournament 2016 -- Devils vs. Gamecocks

[sagegrouse]

On ESPN2 -- thanks for the heads-up, Awhom!

USC scored in the top of the first on a totally BS dribbler up the third-base line. Score 0-1 after one-half inning.

[sagegrouse]

Another run in the second for the Gamecocks on a walk, a fly-ball double and a bloop single. Not good positioning by the Blue Devils' outfielders on the single, according to the announcers. 0-2, USC.

[chrishoke]

2-0 in the second. Unfortunately, Duke looks over-matched again. Come on Devils, show some fight. Let's go!

[chrishoke]

Duke scores with the aid of a 2 base error. 2-1 after 3.

[chrishoke]

Duke can't score after loading the bases w/ no outs in the 4th.

[burnspbesq]

Bellinger ties it for Duke in the sixth.

[sagegrouse]

1B Justin Bellinger parked one on the highway outside the stadium in the bottom of the sixth to tie the score at 2-2.

Go Duke!

[chrishoke]

That was a massive, towering shot!

[burnspbesq]

Cocks go in order in the seventh. Swart getting stronger as the game goes along; he has retired eight in a row, but he's on 104 pitches, so he may be done.

[burnspbesq]

Another perfect inning for Swart. He has been nails.

[burnspbesq]

Ugly top of the ninth. Cocks get one run on a groundball that hits the third-base bag, and a second run on a wild pitch.

Come on, fellas.

[sagegrouse]

USC scores on a double down the line and a wild pitch. Now 4-2.

Duke starter Trent Swart pitched 8+ innings, 118 pitches. He gave up a "metal-bat" single up the middle to start the ninth.

[chrishoke]

Man on for Duke in the bottom of the ninth. Need an extra base hit here.

[chrishoke]

No such luck. Game over, season over.

[DukieInKansas]

Congratulations on a great season, Blue Devils. Wish it had lasted a bit longer.

[DangerDevil]

Congrats on a great season! Can anybody more familiar with the team give us an outlook on what we lose and what the outlook for next season looks like. From looking at the roster it looks like we lose a fair amount of experienced pitching, including Swart. Thanks!

[captmojo]

A 'bad-Luck' loss.
Improvements made. Improvements shown.
Better luck down the road, next season.
It was still a good season. Anytime you get selected to this chance, it was because of a good season.

[jimsumner]

Congrats on a great season! Can anybody more familiar with the team give us an outlook on what we lose and what the outlook for next season looks like. From looking at the roster it looks like we lose a fair amount of experienced pitching, including Swart. Thanks!

Pollard and his staff will have to completely rebuild the starting rotation. McAfee, Swart and Urbon are out of eligibility. Junior Bailey Clark has struggled with command but is still considered a top-100 draft pick. I suspect he'll be gone.

Pollard has aggressively pursued the Ivy-League grad transfer market.

McAfee and Urbon pitched for Cornell last season.

To (overly) simplify.

The Ivy League does not allow grad students to play.

That means guys who have missed a season due to injury have to go elsewhere.

Ivy-League guys are attractive to Duke because Duke can get them into grad school.

Duke is attractive to Ivy League guys because they tend to prioritize education. Who wouldn't want a master's from Duke?

And Fuqua has a 14-month program that leads to a master's.

The problem of course, is that you only get these guys for one year, so the cupboard needs to be restocked pretty often.

I do not know if Duke has any grad-student options showing up. They tend to be hush-hush on this. But it has to happen soon.

Maybe Labosky moves into the rotation. But does that take him out of the lineup the rest of the time?

Speaking of the draft, Duke signed Will Benson last fall. He's 6-6, 220- an outfielder, first-baseman and one of the best prep players in the country.

He's also a very good basketball player and has talked about walking on to Duke hoops.

That's the good news.

The bad news? He's projected as a first-round draft pick later this month and I suspect Duke won't be able to hold on to him.

Duke did sign some pitchers in the fall, top-500 types of guys. But not top-100 types of guys.

If Duke can somehow hold on to Benson, Pollard could have a potent line-up next season. But starting pitching could be a problem.

Cautiously optimistic. Pollard clearly has the program headed in the right direction. But there's work to be done.

[chrishoke]

It was great to make the ACC and NCAA tournies this year but it sure sucked going 0-3 in them. In Pollard I trust. He has done an amazing job of rebuilding the Duke Baseball Program that was in worse shape than our football program, and that's saying a lot. Our hitting will be much better next year, and I have confidence that Pollard will put together a competitive pitching staff. The future is bright for Duke baseball.

Now go ACC in the NCAAs!

[jimsumner]

It was great to make the ACC and NCAA tournies this year but it sure sucked going 0-3 in them. In Pollard I trust. He has done an amazing job of rebuilding the Duke Baseball Program that was in worse shape than our football program, and that's saying a lot. Our hitting will be much better next year, and I have confidence that Pollard will put together a competitive pitching staff. The future is bright for Duke baseball.

Now go ACC in the NCAAs!

The Duke baseball program may have been as low as the football program when Hillier was coach. But McNally had some competitive teams-Nate Freiman, Alex Hassan, Chris Manno, Matt Williams-Jeremy Gould, et. al. and was one closer away from making the ACC Tournament title game in 2009.

Pollard has certainly upgraded the program. But McNally put together teams that were much better than anything we saw from Franks or Roof.

Like Cutcliffe, Pollard has benefited from infrastructure upgrades.

[DangerDevil]

To (overly) simplify.


Cautiously optimistic. Pollard clearly has the program headed in the right direction. But there's work to be done.

Thank you for the excellent summary of next year's outlook!

I hope Pollard keeps the Ivy pipeline working and builds on the momentum and success of this season!

[devildeac]

Pollard and his staff will have to completely rebuild the starting rotation. McAfee, Swart and Urbon are out of eligibility. Junior Bailey Clark has struggled with command but is still considered a top-100 draft pick. I suspect he'll be gone.

Pollard has aggressively pursued the Ivy-League grad transfer market.

McAfee and Urbon pitched for Cornell last season.

To (overly) simplify.

The Ivy League does not allow grad students to play.

That means guys who have missed a season due to injury have to go elsewhere.

Ivy-League guys are attractive to Duke because Duke can get them into grad school.

Duke is attractive to Ivy League guys because they tend to prioritize education. Who wouldn't want a master's from Duke?

And Fuqua has a 14-month program that leads to a master's.

The problem of course, is that you only get these guys for one year, so the cupboard needs to be restocked pretty often.

I do not know if Duke has any grad-student options showing up. They tend to be hush-hush on this. But it has to happen soon.

Maybe Labosky moves into the rotation. But does that take him out of the lineup the rest of the time?

Speaking of the draft, Duke signed Will Benson last fall. He's 6-6, 220- an outfielder, first-baseman and one of the best prep players in the country.

He's also a very good basketball player and has talked about walking on to Duke hoops.

That's the good news.

The bad news? He's projected as a first-round draft pick later this month and I suspect Duke won't be able to hold on to him.

Duke did sign some pitchers in the fall, top-500 types of guys. But not top-100 types of guys.

If Duke can somehow hold on to Benson, Pollard could have a potent line-up next season. But starting pitching could be a problem.

Cautiously optimistic. Pollard clearly has the program headed in the right direction. But there's work to be done.

One year at Duke? Damn, I'd guess Bo "Whinin" Ryan would be cussin' up a storm if he ever found out about this.

Oh, wait, never mind. Wrong sport :rolleyes: .

[-bdbd]

One year at Duke? Damn, I'd guess Bo "Whinin" Ryan would be cussin' up a storm if he ever found out about this.

Oh, wait, never mind. Wrong sport :rolleyes: .

They only care/notice when you win. Specifically, when you beat THEM...

[Olympic Fan]

Just to step in on the discussion about the prospects for next year.

Jim offers a good summary, but I would like to point out that the nine-non-pitchers who started for Duke in the ACC Tournament (that's eight position players and the DH) were all underclassmen. Except for the three senior starting pitchers, this was basically a freshman/sophomore team.

Pollard does need to rebuild his starting pitching staff ... but aside from that, the roster is VERY solid.

[jimsumner]

Jimmy Herron selected freshman All-America

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