DURHAM – Common sense couldn’t overcome the stringency of the NCAA’s rulebook.

Duke will be without centerfielder AJ Gracia for its first game of a super regional series against Murray State because of an ejection in last weekend’s regional-clinching win against Oklahoma State.

“I don’t agree with the ejection,” Duke coach Chris Pollard said on Friday. “I think it’s a misinterpretation and a misappropriation of the rule.”

The NCAA put in a rule almost three years ago that restricted props to the dugout area. It came amid concern that props had gotten out of hand in college baseball.

Duke’s prop is a construction helmet that players wear in the dugout after home runs or key defensive plays. Gracia was wearing it after hitting a home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to cut Duke’s deficit to one; when the go-ahead run scored later in the inning, Gracia took a couple of steps out of the dugout to congratulate his teammates while holding the helmet.

He was ejected by home plate umpire Tim Cordill, much to Pollard’s objection — both during the game and after the Blue Devils’ 3-2 win to capture the Athens regional.

Pollard has since been publicly critical of the ejection. Duke’s appeal of the suspension and attempt to have Gracia available to play in the opening game of the super regional was denied, though.

“I think the NCAA will take a hard look at that,” Pollard continued, “and I’ve received feedback from the NCAA that they’ll take a hard look at that in the offseason.

“That doesn’t help us tomorrow and that doesn’t make a wrong right,” he added.

Gracia is second on the team in home runs (14), slugging percentage (.556) and on-base percentage (.451), and third in RBI (53).

The season-long stats only tell part of the story for the sophomore, though; he slumped for most of the first half of the season and has been on a tear in the second half.

In the last 31 games, Gracia is hitting .380 (46-for-121) with 10 doubles, 12 homers and 37 RBI. He’s walked 31 times and struck out 12, with an OPS of 1.270 in that span.

Gracia was 2-for-12 in the regional last weekend, with a hitless first game ending a 16-game hitting streak.

His replacement in centerfield will be the same as the ninth inning of last weekend’s game — sophomore two-way player Kyle Johnson. He made a smooth running catch for the first out of the win against the Cowboys and is batting .167 this season.

Johnson started Duke’s second game of the regional last weekend and could be in line to start Game 2 against the Racers.

“We’ll let him go, he’s an athlete,” Pollard said of Johnson’s schedule this weekend, possibly playing centerfield and starting on the mound in back-to-back afternoons. “We’ve been mindful of it this week. We were mindful of it today, we intentionally cut back his reps in practice.

“But tomorrow we’re just going to let him go out and play.”