Following a winless season-opening weekend in Surprise, Ariz., Duke returned to Durham hungry for its first victory of 2017.
Although the Blue Devils’ offensive struggles continued through the first six innings, Duke pulled away late, defeating N.C. Central 14-6 Tuesday at Durham Athletic Park for its first win in five tries. After scoring just eight runs through the first 42 innings of the season, the Blue Devil offense came alive late Tuesday with 13 runs in the game’s final three frames.
“We were really relaxed and settled in the eighth and ninth,” Duke head coach Chris Pollard said. “I thought we had some great at-bats and we competed really good, it was great to see our offense break out.”
After taking a 1-0 lead on a leadoff home run by sophomore Jimmy Herron, the Blue Devils (1-4) were held in check until the seventh. N.C. Central starter Landon Fraley allowed just the one run in six innings, and after an RBI single for the Eagles (2-2) in the third, the game was knotted at one.
N.C. Central could not capitalize on Fraley’s success, however, struggling mightily against Duke's pitching. Hunter Davis and Karl Blum continued their early-season success on the mound and combined with Nick Hendrix to throw six innings of one-run ball, striking out seven Eagles during that span.
“Obviously early we pitched exceptionally well,” Pollard said. “Karl Blum was lights out again and Hunter Davis had a really good start. Nick came in and produced a lot of swings and misses which is good to see, so we have a lot of good things to build off of.”
With the Blue Devils’ bullpen dominating through the early action, all Duke was waiting for was its offense to come alive.
After Fraley was replaced in the top of the seventh, that time arrived. The Blue Devils pounded the Eagles' bullpen, breaking the tie with an RBI groundout from Chris Dutra in the seventh inning before the floodgates opened in the final two frames.
Junior Justin Bellinger broke the game open with a two-run home run in the top of the eighth, and Duke got eight hits in the top of the ninth to push seven more runs across.
Griffin Conine led the offensive charge for the Blue Devils with four hits and four RBIs on the day, Bellinger went 2-for-5 with three RBIs and Dutra and Max Miller drove in two runs apiece.
Jack Labosky surrendered a run in the eighth inning and sophomore Zack Kesterson gave up four more in the bottom of the ninth, as the Eagles' offense came alive to close the game, too, but it was not nearly enough to keep pace with Duke.
With the win, the Blue Devils are now a perfect 20-0 in program history against the Eagles, but Pollard’s 10th win against Duke's crosstown foes did not come as easily as the rest.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years and anybody who is not nervous in a 1-1 ballgame is lying,” Pollard said, “We don’t think about who we’re playing, we think about what we’re doing, and our focus in that situation is to work hard to get our offense going, which we did.”
Following Tuesday’s victory, the Blue Devils will host Army for a three-game series this weekend. The first of the set and Duke’s home opener will be played at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park Friday at 4 p.m. with games Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. to follow.
Jack Dolgin contributed reporting.
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Digital Strategy Director for Vol. 115, Michael was previously Sports Editor for Vol. 114 and Assistant Blue Zone Editor for Vol. 113. Michael is a senior majoring in Statistical Science and is interested in data analytics and using data to make insights.