Duke Defeats Davidson 10-6 in Midweek Action

Tuesday, April 7

Durham, N.C. (Jack Coombs Field)

6:00 PM

Duke University

Davidson

Duke Defeats Davidson 10-6 in Midweek Action

4/7/2015 10:44:00 PM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – Four Blue Devils totaled multiple hits as Duke defeated Davidson, 10-6, in non-conference action Tuesday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field. The Blue Devils amassed 12 hits in the game, the team's highest total since a 14-hit performance March 18 against Columbia.

Freshman Johnathan Lloyd led all players with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate. Lloyd also scored a run and notched his first career RBI. In addition to Lloyd, rookie Ryan Day also recorded his first multiple hit game, adding a pair of doubles, a run and an RBI.

“I thought both those guys had terrific games,” said head coach Chris Pollard. “They have both waited patiently to get their opportunities. You can only take advantage of the opportunities you're given. Both Day and Lloyd have done a really good job of taking advantage of the limited opportunities they've gotten. They stepped in there today. Both made starts. Both made the most of them. Both are going to be back in there. I'm proud of them.”

Senior Andy Perez filled the stat sheet with two hits, two RBI, two runs and two stolen bases while freshman Peter Zyla reached base in four of his five plate appearances.

In addition to his day at the plate, Day (2-1) secured his second win of the season after tossing three scoreless frames. Day allowed just two hits, struck out one and walked one.

The heart of the Davidson (14-13, 4-5 A-10) lineup combined for seven of the Wildcats' 11 hits. Cleanup hitter Lee Miller went 3-for-5 while David Daniels and Sam Foy chipped in with two hits each.

Four Davidson singles in the top of the first allowed the Wildcats to plate a pair against freshman starter Jack Labosky. Labosky, making his first start on the mound since March 10, settled down following the opening stanza and did not permit a hit over his final two innings.

Duke (20-13, 4-11 ACC) wasted little time issuing a response. Perez blasted a solo home run over the left field wall to begin a three-run Duke first. The homer was the third of the year for Perez and ninth of his career. A couple walks, a hit batter and a throwing error allowed two more Duke runs to come home.

Labosky and Day shut down the Wildcat offense over the next four innings, blanking Davidson during that span to allow the Duke bats to go to work.

“I'm really proud of Jack,” Pollard said. “Jack had a couple soft contact hits that fell in and then, to their credit, they barreled up a couple balls right behind that. When you haven't been out there in a while, it's easy to start shying away from contact, but he stayed aggressive to contact and put up two shutdown innings his next two innings. A really good outing for not having pitched in a while. I also thought that was as good as Ryan Day has thrown.”

In the bottom of the second, Day led off with a double and Labosky followed with a base hit. Perez picked up the RBI fielder's choice before stealing both second and third. Perez now has a career-high 25 stolen bases, which ranks fifth in the Blue Devil single season records. Zyla then roped an RBI single to put Duke up, 5-2.

Back-to-back doubles from Lloyd and Day in the third extended Duke's margin to 6-2. Lloyd would add an RBI base knock, scoring Zyla, in the fifth to put the Blue Devils ahead, 7-2.

Davidson's Ryan Lowe doubled and scored on Lee Miller's single to make in a 7-3 ballgame in the seventh.

The two clubs combined to score six runs over the final inning of play as Duke scored three in the bottom of the eighth and Davidson plated three in the top of the ninth. The Wildcats committed two errors in the eighth and Zyla added his second RBI single of the night to give Duke a comfortable 10-3 advantage.

The Wildcats received base hits from Daniels, Miller and Foy in a three-run final frame.

Duke is now 8-1 in midweek contests this season and returns to action Wednesday, April 8. The Blue Devils host Richmond at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park with the first pitch slated for 6 p.m.

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