One ACL, 3 HRs: Duke’s MJ Metz shakes off knee injury with powerful performance
His availability for the NCAA Tournament uncertain due to a torn knee ligament, Duke’s MJ Metz proved his fitness by blasting the Blue Devils to an easy win over UNC Wilmington on Friday.
Wearing a brace on his injured leg, Metz slammed three of the five home runs Duke hit in a 12-3 win over the Seahawks on the opening day of Conway Regional play at Springs Brooks Stadium in Conway, S.C.
The regional’s No. 2 seed, Duke (36-21) advanced to face No. 4 seed Rider on Saturday at 6 p.m. The Broncs (36-19) upset top seed and host Coastal Carolina, 11-10, in 10 innings Friday night.
No. 3 seed UNCW (34-22) plays an elimination game Saturday at 1 p.m. against Coastal Carolina (39-20), which is the No. 10 national seed.
Metz played his first game since May 23, when he suffered a knee injury later diagnosed as a torn ACL during Duke’s 8-7 ACC Tournament loss to N.C. State at Durham Bulls Athletic Park. He didn’t play in Duke’s 7-6 ACC Tournament loss to Miami on May 26.
Even after Metz took a solid round of batting practice on Thursday, Duke coach Chris Pollard was still uncertain whether or not to have him on the active roster. He left the decision up to Metz.
“I thought that I could help the team and that’s all I was trying to do,” Metz said. “So I told him that I wanted to get a shot. And then I’d let him know if anything changed and just grateful the way it all turned out.”
It turned out to be a performance for the ages.
“You know, he wanted it,” Pollard said. “Obviously it paid big dividends today and this is a day that I hope he’ll be able to tell his grandkids about in about 50 years.”
A graduate transfer who played designated hitter, Metz hit his home runs in three consecutive plate appearances as the Blue Devils overcame an early 2-0 deficit. He hit a solo home run in the fourth, followed by two-run home runs in the fifth and seventh innings.
With each swing of his bat the ball went further and faster than his previous time at the plate. His fourth inning home run traveled 393 feet off an exit velocity of 104.8 mph. The fifth inning home run went 403 feet on a 104.9 mph exit velocity. The seventh-inning home run flew 423 feet as the ball left his bat at 109.2 mph.
“It’s unbelievable,” Pollard said. “It kind of defies logic a little bit. But he’s an exceptionally tough person.”
Damon Lux added a two-run home run and Jay Beshears hit a solo home run as part of Duke’s onslaught. Of the 10 hits the Blue Devils collected, all went for extra bases.
“We felt like if if we could be selective at the plate, that this ballpark played to our strengths,” Pollard said. “Our guys did a great job of really hunting their pitch today.”
Having lost eight of their previous 11 games, including four in a row, the Blue Devils fell behind 2-0 when the Seahawks scored single runs in the first and second innings.
Duke started its comeback in the third inning when back-to-back doubles by Alex Mooney and Andrew Fischer produced a run. Metz’s first home run tied the game at two and Lux’s two-run blast later in the inning put the Blue Devils in front for good at 4-2.
The Blue Devils led 6-3 in the seventh inning when Beshears started a six-run inning with his home run.
The only bad note for the Blue Devils was catcher Alex Stone going 0-for-3, while being hit by two pitches, to see his 30-game hitting streak end.
This story was originally published June 2, 2023 at 3:57 PM.