Blue Devils Collect 7-4 Win Over Spiders

Wednesday, April 8

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

6:00 PM

Duke University

Richmond

Blue Devils Collect 7-4 Win Over Spiders

4/8/2015 10:46:00 PM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – Duke and Richmond combined for nine hits but the Blue Devils benefitted from 10 walks issued by the Spiders' pitching staff in a 7-4 victory Wednesday evening at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Richmond (17-9) scored all four of its runs in the fourth as freshmen left-handers Chris McGrath, Luke Whitten and Mitch Stallings kept the Spiders at bay. In his third career start, McGrath allowed four runs on four hits and a walk over a season-high four innings. Whitten took the mound in the fifth and faced the minimum over three shutout innings. After Stallings pitched a scoreless eight, junior Kenny Koplove retired the side in order in the ninth to earn his sixth save of the season.

“I really think it was one of our best pitched ballgames of the year,” said head coach Chris Pollard. “[Richmond has] one of the best offenses we've faced. We just made quality pitch after quality pitch. There was a lot to be excited about in terms of the way we pitched.”

Duke (21-13) staked a 2-0 advantage in the first inning, capitalizing on the first of three Richmond errors. Senior Andy Perez led off with a walk then stole second, his 26^th stolen base of the year. Perez now ranks fourth on the program's single season stolen base list. Senior Mike Rosenfeld walked before a throwing error during a double steal allowed him to reach second and Perez to score. Freshman Johnathan Lloyd roped an RBI single to left, putting Duke ahead, 2-0.

The Spiders did all their damage in a four-run third against starter McGrath. A hit batter began the rally, which leadoff hitter Tyler Beckwith extended with a base hit. The first run came home on Michael Mormon's RBI double, before Matt Dacey blasted his seventh home run of the season to center field. The three-run homer put Richmond up 4-2, a lead the Spiders would hold for two frames.

“Chris [McGrath] had a clean inning to start the ballgame,” Pollard said. “He ran into some trouble in the third, but I think he deserves a lot of credit in terms of his maturation process for coming out and giving us a good fourth inning.”

Duke scored five runs in the sixth without recording a hit. Three different Richmond pitchers combined to walk seven-straight Blue Devil batters, which put Duke on top, 6-4. Rosenfeld rounded out the scoring with a sacrifice fly to center field.

Richmond's James Lively (0-1) took the loss. Lively walked both batters he faced in the sixth and did not record an out.

“We were patient in the sixth and took what they gave us,” Pollard said. “We laid off some tough pitches. It wasn't a situation where they just melted down.it was more our guys had some really good, dialed in at bats.”

The Spiders would not register a hit after the third as Whitten, Stallings and Koplove effectively shut down the Richmond offense. Whitten (1-1) earned the first win of his career after pitching three hitless frames with three strikeouts.

“That was as good as I've seen Luke Whitten,” Pollard added. “He really got them off balance. Luke pitched great. I thought Stallings had a great inning and I thought Kenny had a really good inning after that.”

Next up, Duke is set to host No. 5 Louisville in a three-game series at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park Friday-Saturday, April 10-12.

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