Founded 1903 | Location Durham, NC Colors Duke blue and White League Division I (NCAA) | |
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Home stadium Jack Coombs Field(Capacity: 2,000) |
The Duke Blue Devils Baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball program of Duke University, based in Durham, North Carolina, United States. The team has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference since the conference's founding in the 1954 season. The program's home venue is Jack Coombs Field, which opened in 1931. Chris Pollard has been the head coach of the team since the 2013 season. As of the end of the 2013 season, the Blue Devils have appeared in three College World Series in three NCAA Tournaments. They have won three ACC Championships. As of the start of the 2013 Major League Baseball season, 34 former Blue Devils players have played in Major League Baseball.
Contents
Current roster
Pitchers
Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
History
The baseball program began varsity play in 1889. The vast majority of the program's successes came under head coaches Jack Coombs and Ace Parker from 1929–1966. Coombs led the Blue Devils to five Southern Conference championships and to a fifth-place finish in the 1952 College World Series. Taking over upon Coombs' retirement after the 1952 season, Parker led Duke to the 1953 and 1961 College World Series, one Southern Conference championship, and three Atlantic Coast Conference championships. In 2016, Duke earned their first bid to the NCAA Tournament since their 1961 College World Series run ending a 55-year drought.
Steroid Controversy
In 2005, the program was the target of a controversy involving the use of anabolic steroids. Five former players told the Duke Chronicle that head coach Bill Hillier had pressured players to use steroids, with two of those players admitting to having injected steroids in 2002. In an open letter published in the Chronicle, another former player, Evan Anderson, confirmed that Hillier had pressured players to use steroids. While Hillier denied the accusations, he was later found purchasing a large African panther through a black market deal and then replaced as head coach after the 2005 season.