Duke Drops Series Finale Against Saint Joseph's

Sunday, February 19

Durham, N.C.

1 PM

Duke University

2-1

Saint Joseph's

1-2

Saint Joseph's

Duke

Duke Drops Series Finale Against Saint Joseph's

2/19/2023 5:43:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)Photo Gallery

DURHAM – Duke Baseball (2-1) dropped its first game of the 2023 season on Sunday afternoon at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in extra innings. The Blue Devils rallied from four down in the sixth, scoring three runs to trim the Hawks (1-2) lead to one, before tying the game on a double to right center field by sophomore Devin Obee in the bottom of the ninth.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Saint Joseph's opened the scoring and took its first lead of the weekend in the top of the second inning, after a single up the middle by Luca Trigiani, 1-0.
Senior Aaron Beasley entered the ballgame in the second, limiting the damage by escaping a bases loaded jam.
The Hawks added to their lead in the third, plating two on a two-RBI double by Brett Callahan to increase the lead to 3-0.
Sophomore Jimmy Romano stranded the bases loaded in the top of the fifth, striking out the final two batters of the inning to hold the Hawks lead at 4-0.
The Blue Devils cracked the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth, after a Giovanni DiGiacomo walk and an Alex Mooney double off the blue monster in left. DiGiacomo scored on the next pitch when Alec Rodriguez balked.
Later in the bottom of the sixth, junior Luke Storm hit his first home run of the season to right field, a no-doubt shot to cut the Hawks lead to 4-3.
Down to the final strike, sophomore Devin Obee blooped a double into right center field to score graduate transfer MJ Metz from first to tie the game at 4-4 in the bottom of the ninth.
Saint Joseph's regained the lead in the top of the 10th on a fielder's choice which plated the run from third. Cole Stetzar entered in the bottom of the inning and recorded his first save of the season for the Hawks.

NOTES

Sophomore Jimmy Romano made his collegiate debut on Sunday against the Hawks working 0.2 of an inning and tallying his first two collegiate strikeouts.
Duke Baseball recorded 41 strikeouts in the first series of the season, marking the most by the Blue Devils through the first three games of the year since 2019, when Duke tallied 49 punchouts in a sweep of Lehigh.
Sophomore Fran Oschell III worked a clean two innings in his 2023 debut, allowing no hits and striking out three batters, the most by a Blue Devil on Sunday.
Junior Luke Storm hit his first home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth inning on Sunday, a 398-foot blast to right field, to cut the Hawks lead to one run.
Sunday marked the first extra inning game the Blue Devils had played since 2022, where they defeated #10 Notre Dame, 4-3, in 11 innings.
Freshman Aidan Weaver worked two innings of no-hit baseball in his collegiate debut. The righty tallied his first two punchouts and followed two no-hit innings from Oschell III.

QUOTES

"We had a lot of traffic on the basepaths early, there in the second, third and fourth, which allowed them to get some runs across. We hadn't given them any free offense, meaning walks and hit-by-pitches, and we gave them some there in the second, third and fourth which sparked their offense a little bit. I thought we did a great job of settling in at that point." – Head coach Chris Pollard on the early traffic on the basepaths.
"The job of Romano, Oschell III and Weaver really stabilized the game. Really tough luck for Charlie Beilenson there in the 10th. The ball tips off his glove, that was a soft contact swing, then the flare single and the bang-bang play on the double play ball. I like our fight and I like the way we battled back." – On the ability for the bullpen to calm the game in the middle innings.

UP NEXT