CHARLOTTE, N.C. (theACC.com) – Duke entered the 2021 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship on an eight-game winning streak, and the league’s hottest team continued to sizzle Wednesday versus fifth-seeded Florida State.
Michael Rothenberg’s grand slam capped a five-run first inning, and the ninth-seeded Blue Devils cruised on to a 12-1 win in the opening game of Pool D play at Truist Field.
Duke (29-20) faces fourth-seeded Miami (32-17) on Thursday at 11 a.m., with the winner earning a spot opposite the winner of Pool A in Saturday’s 1 p.m. semifinal game.
Rothenberg’s grand slam was the 24th in ACC Baseball Championship history, the last two of which the Duke catcher has hit himself. Rothenberg also connected with the bases full in the Blue Devils’ 10-6 win over Notre Dame in the 2019 tournament.
Duke wasted little time setting the table for Rothenberg’s encore on Wednesday. After three walks and an RBI single by RJ Schreck chased Seminole starter Bryce Hubbart, Rothenberg sent the third pitch from reliever Tyler Ahearn over the wall in right center for a 5-0 Duke lead. The home run was Rothenberg’s eighth of the year.
Rothenberg led off the third inning with a triple in his next at-bat and scored the Blue Devils’ sixth run on Graham Pauley’s two-out single.
Robby Martin’s 11th home run of the season put Florida State on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning, but Duke countered with three in the top of the fifth to go up 9-1. The first of those Blue Devil runs came on a wild pitch, followed by Erickson Nichols’ run-scoring single and Joey Loperfido’s RBI double.
Nichols’ two-run homer and a solo shot by Ethan Murray – his first of the season – capped the scoring in the top of the ninth. It marks the first time the Blue Devils have beaten the Seminoles by 10 runs or more in 106 meetings and only the third time Duke has scored in double-digits versus FSU.
Duke starter Billy Seidl (4-0) and three relievers combined to strike out 13 batters while limiting FSU to four hits. Hubbart, the first of what wound up being nine Seminole pitchers on the day, slipped to 6-5 with the loss.
Florida State (29-22) closes out play in the ACC Baseball Championship on Friday at 3 p.m. against rival Miami, but the Seminoles remain hopeful of landing an NCAA tournament bid when selection are announced Monday at noon.
