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Duke hits 40-win plateau for first time with ACC Baseball Championship victory over Wake Forest

DURHAM, N.C. (theACC.com) – It took 13 innings and nearly four and a half hours, but Duke made school history as it opened play in the 2018 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship with a 6-2 win over Wake Forest.

The Blue Devils pushed four runs across the plate in the top of the 13th to turn back the Demon Deacons and reach the 40-win mark for the first time since the university formally began fielding a baseball team in 1897.

Duke (40-14) will now continue pursuit of its first ACC Championship since the league went to a tournament format in 1973. The fourth-seeded Blue Devils will face No. 5 seed Louisville (41-16) on Friday at 11 a.m., with that winner advancing to face Pitt in Saturday’s 1 p.m. semifinal game.

Wake Forest ended its season at 25-32 with Thursday’s loss.

The Blue Devils’ decisive 13th-inning burst began with a base hit by Griffin Conine and continued two outs later when Wake Forest reliever Antonio Menendez hit both Kennie Taylor and Steve Mann with pitches.

Back-to-back walks to Jack Labosky and Jimmy Herron forced in runs to put Duke up 4-2, and Chris Proctor then singled up the middle off Tyler Witt – Wake Forest’s fourth pitcher of the afternoon – to bring home two more runs and cap the scoring.

Bryce Jarvis (5-1) earned the win on the mound for Duke following a tag-team effort in which both starter Ryan Day and four relievers pitched effectively.

Wake Forest went 1-for-21 at the plate during the sixth through 12th innings, and Jarvis did not allow a hit or a walk while striking out six batters in three innings. Blue Devil hurlers struck out a total of 17 batters and twice struck out the side. Graeme Stinson nearly matched Jarvis’ bullpen effort, allowing no hits and one walk in his 3.1 innings stint.
Menendez (0-5) took the loss for the Demon Deacons.

Duke scored the go-ahead run across the plate in the top of the ninth, but was denied on the closest of plays. With two outs, Joey Loperfido doubled to center field and Taylor followed with a base hit to left. The Demon Deacons’ Christian Long came up with a perfect throw to the plate, and the sliding Loperfido was called out as he attempted to elude catcher Logan Harvey’s tag.

The call was close enough to warrant a replay review of nearly five minutes, but it wound up standing, and the teams headed to the bottom of the ninth still tied at 2-2.

The Blue Devils left a runner on third base in both the 10th and 12th innings before finally breaking through in the 13th.

Labosky and Proctor each collected with two and two RBI for Duke, which finished with 11 hits on the day. Wake Forest leadoff hitter Patrick Frick went 3-for-5, while Bobby Seymour was 2-for-5 and drove in the Demon Deacons’ runs with a two-run double in the third.