Duke, Virginia Tech Open ACC Slate at DBAP

3/9/2017 2:50:00 PM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

LEADING OFF
At the start of a nine-game home stretch, Duke opens ACC play this weekend against Virginia Tech at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park ... After starting the season 0-4, Duke (8-7) has won eight of its past 12 games to move above .500 entering league play ... Virginia Tech (9-6), the national leader with 32 home runs, began the 2017 campaign 8-1 prior to dropping five of its past six games ... Duke has won seven of the past nine games against Virginia Tech and leads the all-time series, 36-26 ... This past season, the Blue Devils took 2-of-3 from the Hokies in Blacksburg, Va. ... ACC Network Extra will broadcast all three weekend contests while Blue Devil Network will provide an audio broadcast via GoDuke.com.

When	TV	Audio	Duke Starter	Virginia Tech Starter
Friday, March 10 4 p.m.	ACC Network Extra	Blue Devil Network	LHP Mitch Stallings	LHP Packy Naughton
Saturday, March 11 1 p.m.	ACC Network Extra	Blue Devil Network	LHP Adam Laskey	RHP Andrew McDonald
Saturday, March 11 ~ 4 p.m.	ACC Network Extra	Blue Devil Network	RHP Ryan Day	RHP Nick Anderson

NEW FACES ON THE MOUND
Despite returning all nine position players from this past season's NCAA Regional team, Duke's pitching rotation features entirely new faces in 2017 ... After losing its weekend rotation of Kellen Urbon, Trent Swart and Brian McAfee to graduation, Duke returned just two pitchers -- RHP Jack Labosky and LHP James Ziemba -- who started a game in 2016 ... Entering the season, current Blue Devil pitchers made a total of four starts in 2016 ...
Duke's current weekend rotation of LHP Mitch Stallings, LHP Adam Laskey and RHP Ryan Day has a combined 10 career starts ... Laskey is the first Duke freshman to enter the Blue Devils' weekend rotation since Swart in 2011, while Day and Stallings primarily worked out of the bullpen the past two seasons, combining for 88 career relief appearances.

PITCHING ROTATION TRANSITION
Despite their lack of starting experience, Duke's rotation of LHP Mitch Stallings, LHP Adam Laskey and RHP Ryan Day has pitched well early in the season ... Stallings struck out a career-high 11 batters in five innings this past weekend versus Princeton ... Laskey recorded his first career quality start versus the Tigers as well, while Day has tossed back-to-back quality starts and ranks 11th in the ACC in ERA (2.08).

VETERAN RELIEVER
Graduate student Nick Hendrix is the ACC active career leader in appearances, taking the mound 94 times during his Duke career ... Hendrix also ranks second all-time in program history in career appearances, trailing leader David Darwin (95) by one ... For his career, Hendrix is 6-5 with a 3.91 ERA, six saves and 121 strikeouts over 126.2 innings.

ACC Active Appearances Leaders
1.	94	Nick Hendrix	Duke
2.	81	John McCarron	Wake Forest
3.	80	Cooper Hammond	Miami

Duke Career Appearances Leaders
1.	95	David Darwin	1993-95
2.	94	Nick Hendrix	2013-Present
3.	88	Andrew Istler	2012-15
4.	85	Michael Ness	2007-10
5.	84	Zach Schrieber	2001-04

BLUM IN THE BULLPEN
Senior right-handed reliever Karl Blum is off to a tremendous start to his senior campaign ... Blum and Florida State's Will Zirzow are the only two ACC relievers to pitch over 10.0 innings without allowing an earned run this season ... Blum has limited opposing batters to a .081 batting average in seven appearances.

BULLPEN SUCCESS UNDER POLLARD
Duke's bullpen has experience great success under head coach Chris Pollard ... Duke relievers have posted a combined 4.01 ERA in 917.2 innings the past five seasons ... In addition, Duke's primary closer has recorded at least eight saves in each of the past four season in Pollard's tenure with Kenny Koplove setting the school single-season record in 2015 ... The Blue Devils' top five relievers so far this season — Karl Blum (0.00 ERA, 12.0 IP), Nick Hendrix (3.27 ERA, 11.0 IP), Bill Chillari (9.0 IP, 1 ER), Luke Whitten (2.16 ERA, 8.1 IP) and Jack Labosky (1.12 ERA, 8.0 IP) — have continued that trend, combining for a 1.49 ERA over 48.1 innings.

Duke Single Season Save Leaders
1.	11	Kenny Koplove *	2015
2.	10	Robert Huber *	2014
	10	David Darwin	1996
	10	Mark Sikorski	1986
5.	9	Mitch Stallings *	2016
	9	Michael Seander	2007
7.	8	Andrew Istler *	2013
	8	Alex Hassan	2009
	8	Vaughn Schill	1998
	8	Mike Kotarski	1992
() Denotes season under head coach Chris Pollard*

STALLINGS ON CAREER SAVES LIST
Prior to this season, junior LHP Mitch Stallings spent his previous two collegiate campaigns as a key member of the Duke bullpen ... Stallings entered the 2017 season ranked tied for fourth in program history with 12 career saves ... Stallings racked up nine saves a season ago, a total that tied for fifth in the Duke single-season ledgers ... Stallings needs just one save to tie for first in program history.

Duke Career Saves Leaders
1.	13	Alex Hassan	2007-09
	13	Vaughn Schill	1997-99
	13	Mark Sikorski	1984-86
4.	12	Mitch Stallings	2015-Present
	12	Andrew Istler	2012-14

IMPACT SOPHOMORES
Duke has four sophomores who have started 10 or more games this season in Jimmy Herron, Griffin Conine, Zack Kone and Kennie Taylor ... That quartet boasts a .312 (62-for-199) batting average with 16 doubles, three triples, three home runs, 28 RBI and 18 stolen bases ... In addition, Herron, Conine, Kone and Taylor have combined to post a .382 on base percentage and scored 44 of DUke's 78 runs (56.4%).

HERRON'S HIT STREAK
Sophomore Jimmy Herron enters the weekend as Duke's hottest hitter, reaching base in 11 straight games and posting a nine-game hit streak ... Herron is hitting .429 the past nine contests while slugging .629 and posting a .475 on base percentage ... He has totaled 10 runs, four extra base hits, four RBI and eight stolen bases in that span.

HERRON ON THE BASE PATHS
2016 Second Team All-ACC pick Jimmy Herron leads the team and ranks tied for second in the ACC with eight stolen bases ... As a freshman, Herron totaled 24 stolen bases, the second highest among Duke freshmen in program history ... He was the fourth Duke rookie to swipe 20 or more bases and the first since Cass Hopkins in 1990 ... For his career, Herron has 32 stolen bases and sits three shy of cracking the top 15.

Duke Career Stolen Base Leaders
Rk	SB	Name	Years
1	98	Quinton McCracken	1989-92
2	97	Mark Militello	1981-84
3	79	Andy Perez	2012-15
4	75	Bobby Brower	1979-82
5	63	Cass Hopkins	1990-93
6	57	Erik Albright	1985-87
7	53	Tim Teer	1968-70
8	52	Bo BOchow	1969-72
9	47	Puryear	1901-03, 07
	47	Seth Edwards	1984-87
11	42	Will Piwnica-Worms	2009-12
	42	Gabriel Saade	2007-10
13	41	Jonathan Anderson	2004-07
14	36	Wooten	1902-04
15	35	Randy Goodroe	1994-97
	35	Adam Murray	2003-06
17	34	Howard	1901-04
	34	Mike Olexa	1991-93
19	33	Javier Socorro	2003-06
20	32	Jimmy Herron	2016-Present

AGGRESSIVE ON THE BASE PATHS
Duke enters the weekend ranked fifth in the nation and first in the ACC leader in stolen bases (28) ... Duke is 28-of-35 in stolen base attempts as a team while 10 different Blue Devils have swiped a base and four have four or more stolen bases on the season.

NCAA DI Stolen Base Leaders
1	Texas Southern	33
	Campbell	33
3	Michigan State	30
	Michigan	30
5	Duke	28
	Wofford	28
	Boston College	28

THE BIG LABOSKY
Duke's starting third baseman Jack Labosky is also one of the team's top relievers ... Labosky hits third or fourth in the Blue Devil order and also ranks third in the ACC with two saves this season ... In addition to batting .280 with nine RBI, Labosky also boasts a 1.12 ERA in five appearances with a 6.0 strikeout-to-walk ratio ... The 2016 second team All-ACC pick was also named a semifinalist for the Gregg Olson Award, presented annually to college baseball's breakout player of the year ... After recording just three extra base hits as a freshman in 2015, Labosky emerged as one of Duke's top hitters in 2016, leading the team in seven offensive categories: on base percentage (.421), runs (38), RBI (47), home runs (8), total bases (100), walks (32) and times hit by pitch (14) ... For his career, Labosky is a .282 hitter with 25 doubles, nine home runs and 65 RBI while posting a 2.33 ERA in 40 appearances on the mound with 56 strikeouts to just 14 walks.

FRESHMEN DEBUTS
Eight of Duke's nine freshmen have seen game action early this season ... Two rookie pitchers -- Adam Laskey and Graeme Stinson -- made their first career starts while Chris Dutra has started nine games behind the plate, Erikson Nichols has started three games at third base and Chase Cheek has started five games in center field ... In addition, Bill Chillari, Matt Mervis and Coleman Williams have all worked innings out of the Blue Devil bullpen.

FRESHMAN CLASS RANKED NATIONALLY
The 2017 Blue Devils boast a talented freshmen class that Perfect Game rated No. 24 nationally in the organization's annual rankings ... All nine Duke freshmen were also ranked among Perfect Game's top 500 ... Duke's freshman class consists of outfielder Chase Cheek, left-hander Bill Chillari, catcher Chris Dutra, right-hander Cameron Kovachik, left-hander Adam Laskey, infielder/right-hander Matt Mervis, infielder Erikson Nichols, left-hander Graeme Stinson and right-hander Coleman Williams ... Duke had two newcomers selected in the 2016 MLB Draft ... The San Francisco Giants selected Laskey in the 31st round, while the Washington Nationals chose Mervis in the 39th round ... In addition, five of the Blue Devil freshmen were listed among Perfect Game's list of top 35 ACC freshmen during the offseason: Laskey (No. 5), Stinson (No. 13), Cheek (No. 19), Mervis (No. 34) and Williams (No. 35).

DUKE ENDS NCAA TOURNAMENT DROUGHT
Duke earned an at-large bid to the 2016 NCAA Tournament, ending a drought of 55 years without making the postseason event … The Blue Devils made their sixth NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and first since 1961 … Duke was one of 10 ACC members to earn a bid to the postseason, joining Boston College, Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, NC State, Virginia and Wake Forest.

DUKE RECORDS 3RD STRAIGHT 30-WIN SEASON
With 31 wins this past season, Duke reached the 30-win mark for the third straight year, marking the program's first stretch of three-straight 30-win seasons since the Blue Devils compiled a run of seven consecutive 30-win seasons from 1992-98 ... Duke has recorded 13 30-win seasons in program history: 2016 (31-24), 2015 (31-22), 2014 (33-25), 2009 (35-24), 2008 (37-18-1), 1998 (38-20), 1997 (33-25), 1996 (39-18), 1995 (30-27), 1994 (33-20), 1993 (39-19-1), 1992 (38-16) and 1952 (31-7).

DUKE/DURHAM BULLS PARTNERSHIP
Duke enters the second year of a seven-year contract with the Tampa Bay Rays' Triple A affiliate Durham Bulls to play its home games at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park (DBAP) in 2017 ... Beginning in 2016, the contract allows Duke to play up to 36 exhibition and home games at the DBAP each year ... The Blue Devils also gained a new, permanent locker room and clubhouse at the facility as well as coaches' office in Diamond View II ... Duke and the Durham Bulls began their original partnership prior to the Blue Devils' 2010 season ... 2017 also features an exhibition contest between the Blue Devils and the Bulls as the two teams are set to meet April 4 at the DBAP.

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