No. 5 Louisville Clinches Series over Duke

Sunday, April 12

Durham, N.C. (Durham Bulls Athletic Park)

1:00 PM

Duke University

Louisville

No. 5 Louisville Clinches Series over Duke

4/12/2015 6:38:00 PM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – No. 5 Louisville totaled 10 hits and benefited from four Blue Devil errors and eight walks to take the series finale, 11-1, Sunday afternoon at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

The Blue Devils had their chances in the early going, but stranded two runners in each of the first five frames. Leading 1-0 after three, Louisville (27-8, 16-2 ACC) put three unearned runs on the board in the fourth to take command of the contest. Duke (22-15, 5-13 ACC) scored its lone run in the bottom of the fifth before the Cardinals broke the game open with seven runs over the next three innings.

“We left a lot of guys on base through the first couple innings,” said head coach Chris Pollard. “In the first two innings, we did a really good job of extending the inning with two outs where a clutch hit could potentially give us the lead. From the third inning on, we didn't play well. We gave them six unearned runs. We walked eight guys. We didn't hit with runners with scoring position. We extended innings when we had the chance to get off the field without a run scoring off the field without a run scoring. You can't do that against an average team much less one of the top five or six teams in the country.”

Shortstop Sutton Whiting, first baseman Brendan McKay and third baseman Zach Lucas each had two hits to lead the Cardinals' offense. Whiting drove in four RBI, while McKay contributed three.

Freshman Peter Zyla and redshirt senior Mike Rosenfeld contributed two hits apiece for Duke. Zyla extended his team-leading hit streak to six games with a single in the first and added a base knock in the third.

Louisville starter Josh Rogers (6-1) picked up the win after allowing one run on seven hits over five innings. Rogers struck out seven and walked one. Duke's Bailey Clark (2-3) suffered the loss, permitting one run on two hits over three innings.

Clark worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the first and pitched a scoreless second before Louisville's Corey Ray belted his sixth homer of the year for the game's opening run.

Two Duke miscues in the fourth allowed three unearned runs to come home. A McKay two-run, two-out single was the only Cardinal hit in the frame.

Down 4-0, Duke got a run back in the fifth. Rosenfeld lined a leadoff double to left, his sixth double of the season, and ultimately scored on a Jack Labosky infield single. Rogers got a strikeout to wrap up the inning and Duke was unable to get a runner on base the rest of the way.

Left fielder Nick Solak walked and scored on McKay's RBI double in the sixth. Louisville then scored three runs in both the seventh and eighth to establish a commanding lead.

Duke returns to Jack Coombs Field Tuesday, April 14 for a 6 p.m., game against UNC Greensboro.