Duke Blanks Pitt to Take Series on Sunday

Sunday, April 2

Durham, N.C.

1 PM

Duke University

18-10, 6-6

Pitt

12-13, 4-6

Pittsburgh

Duke

Duke Blanks Pitt to Take Series on Sunday

4/2/2023 4:53:00 PM | Baseball

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

DURHAM, N.C. – Junior Alex Stone drove in four RBI on Sunday, including a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, as the Blue Devils (18-10, 6-6 ACC) shutout Pittsburgh (12-13, 4-6 ACC) at Jack Coombs Field to take the series from the Panthers.

Freshman Aidan Weaver improved to 3-1 on the season, working two innings of one-hit baseball and striking out a pair. The combination of Weaver, Jason White and Adam Boucher closed out the final five innings of play allowing three hits and striking out seven.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Junior Alex Stone opened the scoring for the Blue Devils in the bottom of the first inning, hitting a three-run home run to left field, 3-0.
Duke added to its lead in the bottom of the second inning, as Andrew Fischer reached on an error by the shortstop and Jay Beshears singled through the left side, 5-0.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Stone doubled to right field to score Fischer from third, 6-0.
Junior Luke Storm doubled to right field in the bottom of the eighth inning, extending the Blue Devils' lead to 8-0.

NOTES

Senior Chad Knight recorded his 100th career hit on Sunday afternoon, doubling in the first inning.
Junior Alex Stone hit his sixth home run of the season; a three-run shot in the bottom of the first inning. Stone finished the day 2-for-5 with four RBI to lead the Blue Devils.
Sophomore Alex Mooney recorded his 12th multi-hit game of the season, finishing 2-for-3 with three runs scored and two walks.
Freshman Aidan Weaver picked up the win in relief for Duke on Sunday, working two innings of one-hit baseball and striking out a pair. Weaver improves to 3-1 on the season.
The 8-0 victory over Pittsburgh is Duke's fourth of the season.

QUOTES

"I am really proud of Higgins. That was a spot start and he found out last night during the postgame meeting. He had some juices flowing and was too amped up and ends up walking the first guy on four pitches. I went out to the mound and told him you are the right guy for this spot, and you are out here for a reason. We turned a double play behind him and it allowed him to settle in. I thought he got stronger as he went." – Head coach Chris Pollard on the job that Ryan Higgins did with the spot start today.
"We were really good there in the first two innings and then we let them off the hook in the next three innings. We had a chance to put the ballgame away in the middle innings. We have to have a little better killer instinct there. Credit to Pitt they made some pitches and plays to keep us off the board. We finally broke through with Stone's double to push that sixth run across and the dagger was Storm's two-RBI double in the eighth." – On the strength of the offense to continue to grind out runs and at bats all day long.
"I will go to fight with these guys any day of the week. They have shown toughness. We passed another test this weekend. The adversity on Friday both with the injury and getting beat badly. We take another punch on Saturday and we were wobbly. We dusted ourselves off and played well during that second half of the game and didn't let up into today." – On the resiliency of the team this weekend.

UP NEXT

Duke continues its eight-game home stand on Tuesday evening, hosting No. 15 Campbell at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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