Duke baseball drops 5-4 heartbreaker to Murray State

Omaha is going to have to wait.

This one hurts the most.

The day after Duke scored nine runs in a futile effort to match Murray State’s offensive explosion, Duke got the pitching it needed. But the offense didn’t hold up its end of the bargain and Duke dropped a heart-breaker 5-4.

Murray State advances to the College World Series while Duke goes into another off-seaon wondering what it will take to finally kick in the door.

I’ll not repeat the litany of near misses except to say this was the first time Duke has had a real chance at pulling out the win, the first time Duke couldn’t say, “well, just not our year.”

Because this could have been Duke’s year. A home crowd, a solid performance from starting pitcher Harry Zatkowski and what on paper should have been a vulnerable Murray State pitching staff. Their second pitcher, Reese Oakley, came into the game with an earned run average over 6 and yet held Duke to a single run in 3.1 innings.

Zatkowski got off to a rough start. Lead-off hitter Jonathan Hogart homered on the third pitch and the visitors--Duke batted last-tacked on another first-inning run.

But recall that Duke took a 2-0 lead the day before and Murray State answered with a three spot. Duke got runners on the corners with no outs. Duke got one run on a sac fly by Jake Hyde but only one.

It seemed like a squandered opportunity at the time.

Still does.

Zatkowski settled down and threw goose eggs in the second, third and fourth. Duke again had runners at first and third in the second, this time with two outs. But A.J. Gracia flied out.

The Blue Devils drew even with a solo homer by Hyde in the third and took a 3-2 lead on a Jake Berger home run the next inning.

Chris Pollard rolled the dice by bringing in ace reliever Reid Easterly to start the fifth. Easterly went 4.1 innings against Virginia Tech back on April 25. Could he go five?

He could not. Hogart tied the game with a sixth-inning blast. Luke Mistone led off the eighth with another home run and Easterly’s season was done.

James Tallon came in and allowed another run. 5-3.

Macon Winslow homered in the eighth. 5-4

Tallon did his job in the ninth, leaving Duke three outs to play with to extend their season.

It started promisingly. Wallace Clark was hit by a pitch, leaving Duke with the big hitters ready to send Duke to Omaha. But Gracia fouled out, Ben Miller grounded out and Hyde flied out.

Curtains.

Any one-run loss leaves room for second guessing. Should Duke have played some small ball to move some runners around the bases? Did Zatkowski have one more inning in him? Should Tallon have come on in relief before Easterly, saving him for a shorter stint? Should Kyle Johnson have been playing right field?

But you don’t get this close this late in the season without making lots of right decisions. Hindsight, 20/20 and all that. Botton line, holding Murray State to five runs gave Duke a great chance to pull out the win and the offense just didn’t do the job.

And the question I don’t want to ask right now but need to toss out there, gingerly, but it’s out there. The internet is swarming with rumors that Virginia is prioritizing Pollard to replace Brian O’Connor and if I know that and you know that, these players know that and you really don’t want those kinds of distractions with your season on the line.

Off-seasons are full of enough uncertainty these days, the transfer portal is open for business and Duke better get this figured out sooner rather than later.

For the record, I very much want Chris Pollard as Duke’s baseball coach. With all the resources he needs to win those portal wars and kick down that door.

But right now, this one stings. Most seasons end in losses. I’m ready for a Duke one that doesn’t. But it will have to wait.