Dougherty's Walkoff Single Sends Duke Past Rider

Saturday, February 28

Durham, N.C. (Jack Coombs Field)

1:00 PM

Duke University

Rider

Dougherty's Walkoff Single Sends Duke Past Rider

2/28/2015 5:41:00 PM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – Freshman Evan Dougherty laced an RBI single up the middle in the bottom of the 11^th to break a scoreless stalemate and send Duke past Rider, 1-0, Saturday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field. Duke improved to 7-1 with the win while Rider fell to 2-3.

Following 10.5 innings without a run, Rider reliever Josh Sharik (0-1) hit junior Kenny Koplove to lead off the bottom of the 11^th. Koplove then advanced to second on an Andy Perez base hit, Perez's second hit of the ballgame. With two outs, Dougherty stepped to the plate and roped reliever David Hafer's 1-1 offering past the glove of the diving shortstop to plate Koplove.

“We had a lot of faith in [Evan] going to the plate in that situation,” said head coach Chris Pollard. “You know he's going to fight and compete. He got a good pitch and didn't try to do too much. A single wins the ballgame and he stayed within himself and drove it up the middle.”

Duke received three standout pitching performances from Andrew Istler, Nick Hendrix and Koplove to register its second shutout of the season. Dating back to last week, the Blue Devil pitching staff has allowed just one run over the past 30 innings.

Istler scattered four hits over seven scoreless innings in the no decision. He did not walk a batter and tied a career high with six strikeouts. In addition, Istler sat down 11-straight Broncs' batters from the third through the sixth.

“The no walks is what really impresses me,” Pollard said. “He pitched off all four pitches and kept pitching to groundball contact. It was a very savvy, veteran start.”

Hendrix came on in relief in the eighth and pitched two shutout innings to keep the game knotted at 0-0. The left-hander permitted just one hit and faced the minimum during his two innings of work.

In addition to scoring the game-winning run, Koplove (1-0) picked up his first career win on the mound. Koplove pitched the 10^th and 11^th innings, striking out four of the seven batters he faced.

Both teams totaled five hits in Saturday's pitchers' duel. A. Perez reached base in three of his five plate appearances and swiped his fifth stolen base of the season as well. Freshman Jack Labosky added a base knock in the second and Koplove drove a single through the left side in the sixth.

Rider starter Zach Mawson pitched well in the no decision, covering eight innings without yielding a run. The left-hander struck out seven and gave up just three hits.

“That's a quality win against a very good club,” Pollard added. “I thought their kid threw a terrific ballgame. But we remained poised and kept competing even when we didn't get the results we wanted. I thought we made some very good plays defensively and we made some key pitches to get off the field.”

Duke and Rider wrap up the three-game series with a doubleheader at Coombs Sunday, Mar. 1. Game one is set for a 12 p.m., first pitch, while game two is slated to begin 45 minutes after the completion of the preceding contest. Duke right-hander Bailey Clark faces Rider RHP Vicenzo Aiello in the first game. Blue Devil RHP Michael Matuella takes the mound opposite Broncs' LHP Nick Margevicius in game two.

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