The No. 6 seed Duke Blue Devils are in a battle with the Miami Hurricanes on Saturday night in their 2024 ACC Tournament Semifinal matchup. The Hurricanes have come out with some impressive pitching early from Herick Hernandez. He’s struck out nine batters already in the first five innings. In the fifth, the ACC Network spoke with Blue Devils head coach Chris Pollard, who is well aware of just how talented Hernandez is.
The Hurricanes jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, thanks to his impressive pitching.
“He plays really good. It’s not a surprise. He pitched great against us in Durham in April. He’s got great stuff. He’s so much better than his numbers. The ability to land a breaking ball. Big shaping breaking ball late in the count has been the difference right now,” Pollard said.
Is he looking for his team to make adjustments? “Well, we told our guys before the ballgame. If the breaking ball starts at the eyes, that’s the one we’ve got to go after. We’ve taken a couple of good swings on it and just missed. And you know, we’ve gotta stick with the approach,” Pollard continued.
How much stock does he put into the regular season games that Duke had against the ‘Canes earlier in the year? “Well, you know. That was a heck of a series. And you know, we swept, but every ball game was a one run game. There was an extra inning game in there. There were two walk offs. These guys played us really tough,” Pollard explained.
“We knew they were gonna play tough tonight with their backs against the wall. And they’ve come out and played well so far. I really like the way we’re defending and pitching. I thought Higgins pitched great. They just put a good swing on a slider,” the Duke head coach explained.
Right now, Duke trails Miami 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning. Daniel Cuvet blasted a two-run shot for the ‘Canes, giving him 24 home runs for his freshman campaign and the Hurricanes school record, passing Pat Burrell. Miami pitcher Herick Hernandez headed to the bench in the bottom of the sixth, after firing nine strikeouts in the first five innings.
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