North Carolina State University Athletics
TIM PEELER: Duncan's turnaround helped the Wolfpack
6/3/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
June 3, 2005
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH -- The outing was disastrous, and Jason Duncan knows it.
On March 20, the junior left-handed long reliever entered a game at Georgia Tech in the bottom of the fifth inning, trying to protect a 4-2 lead, as the Wolfpack tried to avoid a three-game sweep at the hands of the then-No. 8 Yellow Jackets.
Coming in with two men on base, he gave up two singles, hit a batter to load the bases, then walked in a run. All four of the batters he faced eventually scored, giving him the pitcher's infinite nightmare: four earned runs, no innings pitched.
His earned run averaged doubled from 4.50 to 9.00. He walked off the mound wondering what was going on.
"That game was like a wake-up call," Duncan said. "I didn't like the feeling. It kind of hurt because we had a chance to win that game, and I felt responsible for us losing it.
"I didn't want that to ever happen again. I don't even really know what one thing in particular caused it. I didn't throw strikes, I guess."
The 11-10 loss to the Yellow Jackets left the Wolfpack with a 3-6 record in the ACC and a 15-8 overall record. As it turns out, it was also the turning point in what has become an extremely successful season.
Coach Elliott Avent's team won eight straight series after that three-game sweep by the Yellow Jackets. On Friday, the No. 22 Wolfpack (40-17) will play Creighton in the first round of the NCAA Lincoln Regional, with high hopes of extending its season into a Super Regional.
No player on the team has made a bigger turnaround than Duncan, a lanky 6-4, 177-pound left-hander from Winston-Salem's North Forsyth High School. He got his confidence back by pitching 4 1/3 strong innings in the Wolfpack's come-from-behind, 10-9 victory over Lehigh, in which the Wolfpack scored 10 runs in the final two innings to avoid its fourth consecutive loss.
The lefty pitcher is one of the team's quietest players, someone who sometimes gets overshadowed by the sometimes garrulous achievements of others. But the Wolfpack likely wouldn't have turned its season around without his performance in long relief and as a set-up man for junior closer Joey Devine.
Ever since taking on that setup role, Duncan has sparkled.
He's given up just two runs in his last 35 2/3 innings, which includes a stretch of 20 1/3 consecutive scoreless innings, lowering his ERA down to 2.06. Only Andrew Brackman's 1.38 ERA is better on the team.
He's won four more games, improving his record to 5-0 on the year, one of three regular pitchers who are unbeaten this year.
"He has been one of the top relievers in the conference," Avent said. "Against Georgia Tech he had a little bit of a rough outing, which a lot of people do. Since then, he has been phenomenal.
"He and Joey have been the two guys out of the bullpen who have been just lights-out all year long."
Duncan - who relies on a fastball, slider and change-up as his three primary pitches - credits extra throwing, extra running and some long talks with Devine about the mentality of being a reliever for his turning his season around.
"I have taken a lot from him," Duncan said. "We talked about a lot of mental stuff. The thing that he does so well is work hard to be prepared all the time. That's something I think I have learned from him."
What impressed Devine the most was Duncan's ability to bounce back from that one bad outing to be an impact player for the Wolfpack.
"He understands that at times in the ACC and in college baseball, great teams are going to be able to hit you," Devine said. "That's tough to understand sometimes and it's tough to handle that right after a game, to know you have been hit around.
"But if you let a bad outing affect you, teams will pick up on it. You will just keep going downhill from there, and that's something Jason and I talked about. Since that Georgia Tech game, he has had a major impact on this staff."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
