Duke Tops No. 10 Notre Dame, 15-5

Thursday, April 14

Durham, N.C.

4:00 P.M.

Duke University

14-20, 0

Notre Dame

21-6, 0

Notre Dame

Duke

Duke Tops No. 10 Notre Dame, 15-5

4/14/2022 7:50:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score BOX SCORE SEASON STATS PHOTO GALLERY COACH POLLARD POSTGAME

DURHAM – A seven-run eighth inning sealed the victory as Duke powered past No. 10 Notre Dame, 15-5, on Thursday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field.

Duke (14-20, 4-12 ACC) tallied 15 runs on 16 hits, the most in ACC play this season. Duke out-hit Notre Dame (21-6, 8-5 ACC) 16-5 in the contest.

Freshmen Andrew Yu and Alex Mooney and junior Graham Pauley led Duke at the plate. Yu finished 4-for-5 with three runs scored, a pair of RBIs and a home run. Pauley also went 4-for-5, adding three RBIs and his team-leading 12th double. Mooney finished 3-for-4 while scoring three runs and adding three RBIs and a double.

Rookie southpaw Jonathan Santucci rolled through the first four innings in his first career ACC start during a staff day for Duke. Santucci, a native of Leominster, Mass., tallied five strikeouts to match his career high while allowing just one hit, a bunt in the fourth inning.

Duke enjoyed its best start to a game this season, hopping out to a 6-0 lead through the first three innings, including three runs in the first inning for the most in a first inning this year. The Blue Devils opened the scoring via a sacrifice fly by senior RJ Schreck. Later in the first, Yu connected on a two-run home run to center field to bump Duke's lead to 3-0.

Mooney singled in the second inning to plate another before Duke added a pair in the third. Rookie Devin Obee hit a sacrifice fly to right field to score the first, then graduate student Chris Davis executed a squeeze bunt to plate Yu.

Notre Dame showed resilience, scoring four runs on three hits in the top of the fifth inning to make it a two-run game, 6-4. Duke responded with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth via a double by Pauley and a wild pitch to extend the lead to 8-4. The Fighting Irish bounced back and chipped another away from the Duke lead in the seventh, scoring on a pair of Duke errors.

Duke plated seven runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to pull away from Notre Dame, 15-5. The seven runs were scored on seven hits, each the most in a single inning this season. Schreck hit a two-run home run and Mooney recorded a two-RBI two-base knock to highlight the inning.

Sophomore southpaw Josh Allen was valuable in relief for the Blue Devils. Allen allowed one unearned run on two hits in 2.1 innings of work.

Senior Jimmy Loper earned the eight-out save in relief. Loper surrendered just one walk in 2.2 no-hit innings of work, striking out five batters. It was his team-leading fourth save of the season.

The Blue Devils and Fighting Irish continue the three-game series on Friday at 6 p.m. at Jack Coombs Field. The game will be streamed on ACC Network Extra and the Varsity Network App (radio).

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