Duke baseball hosting first NCAA Tournament games after Murray State stunner
The Duke baseball team will host an NCAA Super Regional at Jack Coombs Field for the first time in program history, with a trip to the College World Series on the line.
After No. 10 national seed Ole Miss fell to No. 4 regional seed Murray State, 12-11, in the Oxford Regional on Monday night, the Blue Devils — the winner of the Athens Regional as a No. 2 seed — received hosting rights for the super regional round.
Duke won its fourth regional championship Sunday night, defeating Oklahoma State, 3-2. This weekend, the Blue Devils will face Murray State in a best-of-three series for a chance to return to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, for the first time since 1961.
The best-of-three series begins Saturday at 1 p.m with game two set for Sunday at noon. The third game, if necessary, would be Monday.
To prepare for hosting, Duke is temporarily expanding seating at Coombs with bleachers behind both dugouts as well as expanding the footprint of the facility down the right field line. Last season, Coombs underwent renovations to ensure the facility was up to code with NCAA postseason standards.
All four of the program’s Super Regional berths have been clinched in the past seven seasons, but Duke had yet to host any NCAA Tournament action until now. Duke advanced to best-of-three series at Texas Tech in 2018 and Vanderbilt in 2019, stretching both to deciding game threes before seeing its season end.
In 2023, Duke was in talks with the NCAA about hosting a regional after breaking into the Top 10 that May. At the time, the Blue Devils were splitting home games between Coombs and the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, but would’ve had to play the regional round in Coombs due to the Bulls’ home game schedule.
And because of the size and age of Coombs, Duke would’ve had to make short-term improvements to the facility and build temporary camera wells. Coombs opened in 1931, but its last renovations were completed in 2011.
The Blue Devils struggled through the last stretch of the 2023 regular season and were instead sent to a regional in Conway, South Carolina, where Duke upset the No. 10 national seed, Coastal Carolina, to advance to the Super Regional.
Then, after winning the first game of the best-of-three series in Charlottesville, host Virginia won the last two games to clinch a spot in Omaha.
Last year, the Blue Devils were once again in contention to be a top-16 seed after winning the 2024 ACC Tournament Championship and posting a 39-18 record entering the NCAA Tournament. Instead, they were sent to a regional in Norman, Oklahoma.
Pollard said last May he believed the conditions of Duke’s facility played a role in the decision to send the Blue Devils to Norman, rather than to host.
“It’s a lot easier to take a TV crew to a ready-made facility,” Pollard said. “But that’s why we’ve made it a priority to address the need for the renovation at Coombs.”
In Norman, Duke lost the first game, stayed alive with a win in the consolation bracket before ultimately falling to No. 1 seed Oklahoma to end the 2024 season.
The Duke athletic department began upgrading Coombs last August with new dugouts, field improvements and practice facilities. Additional camera locations were created and approved for the NCAA Tournament.
“The announced renovations to Coombs Field certainly get us closer to making our Omaha goals a reality,” head coach Chris Pollard said in a press release.
Once again, Duke is two wins away from making that long-awaited trip to Omaha.
And this time, the Blue Devils will look to do it on their home field.
This story was originally published June 2, 2025 at 10:03 PM.