Duke Wins Opener, Downs Cal 7-1

Friday, February 13

Berkeley, Calif.

10:00 PM

Duke University

California

Matuella Earns Preseason All-America Honors

Duke Wins Opener, Downs Cal 7-1

2/14/2015 3:00:00 AM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

BERKELEY, Calif. – Junior Michael Matuella tossed six scoreless inning and freshman Justin Bellinger hit a two-run homer as Duke defeated California, 7-1, Friday evening at Evans Diamond. Head coach Chris Pollard has now led the Blue Devils to a season-opening victory in each of his three seasons in Durham.

Matuella scattered four hits, including three infield singles, and struck out eight batters in a solid start to his junior campaign, earning the road victory. The Great Falls, Va., native fanned the first four Golden Bears he faced and struck out at least one batter in all but one frame.

“Everything felt good,” said Matuella. “Everything felt smooth. It was nice to get some warm weather out here in California and it was a good team win.”

California (0-1) and Duke (1-0) both registered seven hits, but Duke benefitted from seven walks, eight wild pitches and two hit batters. Three Blue Devils – Jalen Phillips, Jack Labosky and Mike Rosenfeld – contributed two hits each, while Evan Dougherty generated three walks and scored two runs.

“I thought we showed a lot of poise,” said Pollard. “I knew the effort would be there, but with young guys you wonder what will be there in terms of composure. We traveled across the country and played what is in my opinion a top 40 team in the country on the road, but I thought our guys played poised the entire night. I'm very pleased with that.”

Duke threatened in both the first and second, but Cal starter Daulton Jefferies escaped unscathed on both occasions. After the Blue Devils stranded a pair in the first, Rosenfeld narrowly missed his fifth career home run as the Duke catcher sent a double high off the wall in centerfield.

Despite the lack of early run production, the Blue Devils were able to work the count against Jefferies, who also wound up throwing four wild pitches. Rosenfeld's two-out RBI single in the fifth chased the sophomore righthander after Jefferies allowed four runs on six hits over 4.2 innings to take the loss.

Two Blue Devil freshmen each recorded their first collegiate hits to get Duke on the board in the fourth. Following a Labosky single up the middle, Bellinger sent a towering, two-run homer over the wall in rightcenter to break the scoreless stalemate. Bellinger finished the game with three RBI and a run scored.

The Blue Devils plated two the following frame to extend their lead to four. Phillips led off the inning with his second base hit, followed by a Dougherty walk. With two outs and runners on second and third, a wild pitch on strike three allowed Phillips to score Duke's third run of the game. Rosenfeld knocked Jefferies out of the contest with an RBI single to left, bolstering the advantage to 4-0.

In the seventh, Duke capitalized on some free offense, scoring three runs without the benefit of a hit. Cal walked the first three Blue Devil batters before a Bear error on a potential double play ball scored the first Duke run. Rosenfeld then drove in a run with a groundball to short and Koplove sent a line drive sac fly to center.

Following Matuella's departure, junior left-hander Nick Hendrix did not allow a run, covering the seventh and eighth innings. Redshirt junior Conner Stevens came on in the ninth and yielded one run on one hit and a walk before sealing the victory.

Duke and Cal reconvene at Evans Diamond Saturday, Feb. 14 for a 6 p.m. (PST) start. Duke senior Andrew Istler takes the mound opposite Cal junior Ryan Mason.

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