Duke football prides itself on approaching its program differently. So its coach surely wasn’t going to lob a basic four-seamer during a ceremonial first pitch.
Blue Devils coach David Cutcliffe, winning coach of the 2015 New Era Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium in December, scoffed at the assumption he’d toss a four-seam fastball as the first pitch before a New York game last week.
“I’m gon’ two-seam it,” Cutcliffe said in a video documenting his trip. “Two-seamer is gonna move more than a four-seamer.”
The 61-year-old was true to his word. Not only did he stick with the two-seam grip, it reached enough speed to be classified as a fastball, too.