Spring Sports Spotlight: Duke Baseball’s Alex Stone was a key veteran of the team’s recent success

Each week, the Blue Zone breaks down one spring athlete standout and looks at their weekly performance and season as a whole. Next comes Alex Stone:

Duke Baseball has had an unexpected rise this season, evolving from a team likely to finish bottom of the ACC to a potential host of an NCAA regional league later this spring. Even more impressively, the Blue Devils have achieved their success without their two top pitchers, Luke Fox and Jonathan Santucci, who are out for the season through injuries. With a lack of aces in the roster, head coach Chris Pollard had to rely on his experienced bats, and junior catcher Alex Stone was a key part of Duke’s recent explosion.

The Andover, NJ, native made a big leap in his third season at Durham, his second full season as a starter behind the plate. So far, the junior backstop is .302 with 44 RBIs and 12 homers. This is a huge improvement over his .227 line from 2022, and he’s already surpassed his career highs in every stat with about a month to go before the regular season ends.

Stone was also behind court for the Duke defense, an important position due to the strength of offenses in the ACC. Across 43 games, Stone has a .989 fielding ratio, which is comparable to his previous seasons as the Blue Devil. In addition, he hasn’t allowed many unforced errors, conceding just eight pass balls so far. With a Duke pitching staff full of inexperience, many arms are probably grateful to have a constant presence on the other end of the battery.

While the Blue Devils have been relatively stable all year, they’ve really made progress lately, finishing in the top 25 for the first time all year last week, finishing at No. 16. This rise in the polls is due to a string of impressive wins over the past few weeks, including eight wins against ranked opponents since April 14th. Those victories over Boston College, Campbell, Louisville and Virginia put Duke on the map, a team now firmly poised to finish in the top 16 in tournament time.

During this phase, Stone was absolutely on fire. He has had one hit in his last 18 games, coinciding with all of the Blue Devils’ recent marquee wins. In the series sweep against Louisville, the catcher had five RBIs on three hits, including a walkoff single. In Duke’s most recent series against Virginia, No. 11, Stone was unstoppable. He hit a home run in every game and had a total of seven hits over the weekend, including four in the series’ opening game.

If Stone continues his hot streak, the Blue Devils will likely find it much easier to manage the rest of the ACC schedule. After their declaration won in April, Duke heads into May with serious goals, including hosting a regional league and winning the conference.

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