Three things to know as Duke baseball faces Virginia in Charlottesville Super Regional

When Duke last visited Virginia’s Disharoon Park, it was the Blue Devils who played like one of the nation’s top teams, one worthy of an NCAA Tournament top-eight seed.

After winning two of three games over the Cavaliers in ACC play in late April, though, Duke didn’t play as well in May.

As a result, when Duke and Virginia meet in the NCAA Tournament beginning Friday, the Cavaliers (48-12) have home-field advantage as the No. 7 national seed.

Duke (38-22) earned its spot opposite Virginia in the Charlottesville Super Regional by winning the Conway Regional last Monday. The Blue Devils pounded No. 10 national seed Coastal Carolina, 12-3, in the title game.

So, when Duke and UVa play Game 1 of the best-of-three super regional series Friday at noon, the Blue Devils enter with confidence, even though they are on the road once again.

“These guys genuinely like it,” Pollard said. “They like spending time with one another. I think we’ve been looser on the road and they’ve really embraced this persona of being a great road team. They call themselves road dogs. And that’s just been kind of adopted into the culture of this season. So I don’t have any doubt that we will embrace being on the road this weekend.”

Here are three things to know as the two ACC rivals battle it out this weekend to determine who advances to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska:

How did we get here?

Duke was a top-10 team nationally, having gone 15-3 in April, after winning two of a three-game series at Virginia on April 28-30. But the Blue Devils went 4-8 in May and found themselves as a No. 2 seed at the Conway Regional.

But Duke responded well, pounding 12 home runs in four Conway Regional games to advance to its third super regional in the past five NCAA tournaments.

Virginia responded from a tough stretch of games in April and is on a serious roll that it carried into the postseason. The Cavaliers dropped ACC series to Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Notre Dame, in addition to Duke, in April.

The Cavaliers found their groove again, though. Since losing 7-3 to Duke on April 30, Virginia has won 13 of its past 14 games. That included a 10-game winning streak. The Cavaliers won all three games at the Charlottesville Regional to advance to the super regional.

“I think everybody has that kind of two-week stretch where you don’t feel like you’ve got it all put together,’ Pollard said. “But, outside of that stretch at the end of April, they’ve been as good as anybody in the country right and they’ve been really good in May and have been really good here down the stretch.”

Pitching outlook

Virginia allowed just five runs over its three regional games, getting strong solid pitching in all three games.

Connelly Early (11-2, 3.35 ERA) was elevated to a weekend starter in May and has impressed. He struck out 10 over 6 1/3 innings when Virginia beat East Carolina, 8-3, on Sunday night to win the regional. Virginia also has Nick Parker (8-0, 3.78 ERA) and Brian Edgington (8-3, 3.64 ERA) to start games during its regional.

Duke takes a totally different approach as it regularly uses five pitchers per game, with few throwing more than two innings. Season-ending injuries to left-handed starting pitchers Luke Fox and Jonathan Santucci caused the Blue Devils to go with a bullpen approach to every game.

Alex Gow (3-3, 4.62 ERA) started two games at the Conway Regional and pitched only 8 1/3 innings combined.

The real workhorses are relievers Charlie Beilenson (6-3, 3.16 ERA), Fran Oschell (5-0, 0.74 ERA) and Adam Boucher (1-0, 4.12 ERA). Beilenson appeared in all four Conway Regional games for Duke while Boucher pitched in three and Oschell two.

Pollard said Wednesday that freshman all-American James Tallon (1-1, 1.69 ERA) would be available to pitch against Virginia after he didn’t play at the Conway Regional.

Bringing the lumber

Both Virginia and Duke are known to pound opposing pitching staffs to make games lopsided.

The Cavaliers average 9.1 runs per game while the Blue Devils have scored 7.8 runs per outing.

Duke has a powerful middle of the order with Alex Stone and MJ Metz tied for the team lead with 17 home runs each. Other Blue Devils in double-figures in home runs are Jay Beshears (14), Luke Storm (13) and Andrew Fischer (11).

The Blue Devils have blasted a school-record 107 home runs this season.

Virginia’s top offensive threat is Kyle Teel, who is batting .423 with 13 home runs. Jake Gelof, who has 22 home runs to go with his .330 batting average, is the Cavaliers’ top power threat. Ethan Anderson (.372, 12 home runs) and Ethan O’Connell (.359, 13 HRs) are also formidable threats.

Virginia’s team on-base percentage is an impressive .491.

NCAA Charlottesville Super Regional

Disharoon Park, Charottesville, Virginia

Friday, June 9

Game 1: Duke vs. Virginia, noon (ESPN2)

Saturday, June 10

Game 2: Duke vs. Virginia, noon (ESPN2)

Sunday, June 11 (if necessary)

Game 3: Duke vs. Virginia