NORMAN, Okla. (WNCN) — After winning their second Atlantic Coast Tournament baseball title in less than five years, the Duke Blue Devils and their big-swinging lineup have their sights on Omaha. But first, they’ll have to get through the Norman Regional.
Duke (39-18), seeded second in their regional, starts round play Friday afternoon against No. 3 UConn (32-23) on Friday afternoon at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman. Lefty Andrew Healy is scheduled to be the starting pitcher for the Blue Devils, while right-hander Ian Cooke will start the game on the mound for the Huskies.
According to Duke’s sports information department, this is the first meeting on the diamond between the two schools. This is the sixth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament for the Huskies, while the Blue Devils are in this round for the second consecutive year and sixth time total under head coach Chris Pollard, Last season, as well as in 2018 and 2019, Duke advanced out of the regional round.
The NCAA Baseball Tournament regional round is double-elimination, so each team is guaranteed to play at least two games and will have to lose twice before being knocked out.
The winner of this game will move on to play the winner of tonight’s game between host and regional top seed Oklahoma (37-19) and No. 4 Oral Roberts (27-30-1) tomorrow night. The loser will play tomorrow afternoon against the losing team from tonight’s game.