Duke Drops First Midweek Matchup, 8-6

Wednesday, February 22

Durham, N.C.

4 PM

Duke University

2-2

Liberty

1-3

Liberty

Duke

Duke Drops First Midweek Matchup, 8-6

2/22/2023 8:34:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)Coach Pollard Postgame Interview Photo Gallery

DURHAM – Duke Baseball (2-2) scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth and had the tying run on base called out due to interference in the basepaths, falling to Liberty (1-3) 8-6 on Wednesday at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Graduate student Damon Lux opened the scoring for the Blue Devils in the bottom of the second, hitting a solo home run to straight away center field.
Liberty responded in the top of the third, scoring five runs to take the lead, 5-1.
The Flames added a pair of solo home runs in the top of the fourth, extending their lead to 7-1.
Sophomore Alex Mooney doubled to the gap in left center, scoring Jonathan Santucci from third to cut into the Flames lead, 7-2. Later in the inning, Junior Jay Beshears doubled to the gap in right center to score Mooney and Luke Storm to close the deficit to 7-4.
Liberty added a run in the top of the sixth, scoring on a wild pitch, to extend their lead to 8-4.
In the bottom of the eighth, Cole Hebble grounded out to second base to cut the lead to one, before Mooney singled and advanced to third on an error to trim the Liberty lead to 8-6.

NOTES

Senior Jason White worked two clean innings on Wednesday evening, striking out a season high three batters.
Duke pitchers recorded 14 more punchouts, to bring the season total to 55, the most the Blue Devils have recorded in the first four games since 2019.
Junior Collin Bosley-Smith made his first career appearance on Wednesday night, recording one out.
Freshman Tyler Albright recorded his first career hit, in the bottom of the eighth, singling up the middle to advance MJ Metz to second and begin the eighth-inning rally.

QUOTES

"I am really proud of our team. I just told them that, but we gave them a lot of free offense in the third inning, three runs, which turned out to be the difference in the ballgame. I really liked the way we battled our way back into the ballgame. Our energy and fight was outstanding." – head coach Chris Pollard on the fight late in the ball game.
"Tyler Albright, Andrew Fischer and Cole Hebble off the bench provided a spark at the bottom of the lineup and our pitching late was great. The job that Weaver, Nard and Oschell III did over the last three innings was great. They were tough and worked around traffic, while competing really well." – On the spark that guys off the bench gave the team heading down the stretch.

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