For anyone interested, I compiled a summary of Duke's pitchers in advance of our series with them. They definitely have a number of solid arms including multiple preseason All-Americans and a variety of quality left-handers so our offense will have it's work cut out for it but their starting pitching outside of Santucci has been unspectacular this year so there may be some opportunities for success. Starting Pitching Jonathan Santucci (LHP, 6’2” 205, JR) is Duke’s Friday starter and projected high MLB draft choice. This year, he has proven to be pretty consistent and reliable overall. In ACC play, he is 2-0 with a 4.67 ERA and 1.56 WHIP and has logged at least 4 innings while giving up 3 or less earned runs in his last 5 ACC starts. He is especially good at limiting hits (.197 batting average against) but he struggles at times with his command where he has given up 23 walks in 27.0 innings. Due to his command issues, he hasn’t gone more than 5.1 innings in any of his ACC starts and typically has a pitch count in the 95 to 101 range. The Saturday and Sunday starters have been shared by a combination of pitchers. For Saturday games, Andrew Healy (LHP, 6’6” 200, SO) started the first two ACC games, then Ryan Higgins (RHP, 6’2” 210, JR) started the next two and Kyle Johnson (LHP, 6’1” 205, FR) has started the last two Saturdays. Sundays have also seen a similar rotation of pitchers with Kyle Johnson starting the first ACC game, Tim Noone (LHP, 6’0” 190, GR) starting the second, Andrew Healy starting the next two and then David Boisvert (RHP, 6’5” 215, JR) starting the last two. Healy (7.07 ERA, 1.43 WHIP in ACC play) hasn’t pitched in the last two ACC series so I am not sure if he is injured but he hasn’t quite had the season as he did last year as a Freshman All-American. Johnson (4.35 ERA, 1.49 WHIP in ACC play) missed time due to an injury but appears to be back so I would expect they’ll go with him as their Saturday starter in our series. As for Sunday, I am not sure if they’ll go with Boisvert (3.86 ERA, 1.90 WHIP in ACC play) but I would expect them to go early to their bullpen as they have used 6+ pitchers in 4 of their 6 Sunday ACC games. Relief Pitching Duke’s bullpen has been better than their starting pitching this year with their bullpen logging an 8-5 record and 5.12 ERA in ACC games as compared to their starting pitching which has a 3-2 record and 5.75 ERA in ACC games. Anchoring their bullpen is Charlie Beilenson (RHP, 6’0” 215, GR) who is their primary closer and workhorse. Despite not starting any ACC games, he is second on their pitching staff in innings pitched with 21.0 and has appeared in 11 of their 18 games. Overall, he has been very effective (3.86 ERA, 1.48 WHIP) and we are likely to see him twice during the series for at least 2 innings each appearance. The next most heavily used bullpen arm is Gabriel Nard (RHP, 5’11” 190, SO) who most frequently appears on Friday nights then occasionally on Sundays. He will likely either be the first or second pitcher out of the bullpen on Friday and typically lasts for about 2 innings and 30-45 pitches and has been typically solid (4.30 ERA, 1.55 WHIP) and hasn’t given up more than 2 runs in any of his ACC appearances. The other pitcher we may likely see on Friday is Owen Proksch (LHP, 6’3” 225, SO). He has appeared in 10 of their 18 ACC games but typically only pitches for 1.1 innings or less. He has also been pretty solid (4.00 ERA, 1.67 WHIP) but has shown occasional command issues with 9 walks in 9.0 innings. Other key arms in their bullpen are Preseason All-Americans James Tallon (LHP, 6’5” 195, SO) and Fran Oschell III (RHP, 6’7” 230, JR). Both haven’t quite had the expected success in ACC play thus far but they are still high-quality arms. Oschell III has been the better of the two (3.38 ERA, 1.25 WHIP) but has only appeared in 5 of their ACC games for 8.0 innings. Tallon started off ACC play really strong giving up just 1 earned run in 8.0 innings over his first 5 outings but has struggled in his last two appearances giving up 6 earned runs in just 2.1 innings. Rounding out their regular arms in the bullpen are Ryan Higgins (RHP, 6’2” 210, JR) and Jimmy Romano (RHP, 6’1” 200, JR). Higgins has bounced between being a starter and reliever but his most recent appearances have been out of the bullpen. In ACC play, he has struggled with a 7.56 ERA and 1.73 WHIP. Romano on the other hand has been pretty good in ACC games with a 4.70 ERA and 0.97 WHIP and not allowing a walk while striking out 13 in 7.2 innings.