Three Blue Devil Pitchers Toss Shutout of Campbell

Tuesday, February 23

Durham Bulls Athletic Park

4:00 PM

Duke University

Campbell

Three Blue Devil Pitchers Toss Shutout of Campbell

2/23/2016 7:37:00 PM | Baseball

Baseball Audio Archive: Duke 4, Campbell 0 (Feb. 23, 2016)Urbon Postgame Interview: Duke 4, Campbell 0 Proctor RBI Single Highlight: Duke 4, Campbell 0 Zack Kone Defensive Highlight Proctor Postgame Interview: Duke 4, Campbell 0 Pollard Postgame Interview: Duke 4, Campbell 0 Box Score (PDF)Box Score (HTML)Photo Gallery

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – Duke pitchers Kellen Urbon, Kevin Lewallyn and Luke Whitten combined for a three-hit shutout of Campbell as the Blue Devils blanked the Camels, 4-0, Tuesday evening at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Urbon, Lewallyn and Whitten allowed one hit each and none of Campbell's (2-2) three hits left the infield. Duke (3-1) capitalized on the standout pitching performances, scoring three runs in the fifth and adding an insurance run in the eighth to win its third straight game.

“All three of those guys pitched the ball great,” said head coach Chris Pollard. “Kellen gave us a great start. He was so efficient. He was getting a lot of soft, early contact. He got us five really clean innings. I thought we had two guys come in behind him and throw the ball really well.”

Urbon (1-0) blanked Campbell for five innings to earn the win. He permitted just one hit – an Adam Wyse infield single in the third – did not walk a batter and struck out three in an effective outing.

“I was really just trying to throw a lot of strikes, really challenge hitters,” Urbon said. “[Our] coaches preach efficiency and throwing a lot of strikes and getting a lot of groundball contact.”

Following two scoreless frames from Lewallyn, Whitten completed the shutout and picked up his first career save with two scoreless innings of his own.

Freshman Zack Kone reached on a throwing error by Camel shortstop Anthony Lopez to spark a three-run Blue Devil fifth. Sophomore Evan Dougherty laid down a sacrifice bunt and freshman Chris Proctor knocked in Kone with an RBI fielder's choice to account for the game's first run. Sophomore Max Miller continued the rally with a double, his second of the season. Freshman Jimmy Herron laced an RBI single to center and sophomore Peter Zyla added an RBI fielder's choice to extend the Blue Devil margin to 3-0.

Campbell's best scoring opportunity came in the sixth when the first two Camel batters reached base, but Lewallyn and the Duke defense escaped the inning unscathed following a sacrifice bunt, strikeout and strong defensive play by Kone at short.

“[Lewallyn] walked the leadoff guy, which we don't love,” Pollard said. “Then we had the bunt play, which was a bang-bang play at first. [Lewallyn] settled in and he didn't lose his composure. What a job by Zack Kone to make the play to get him off the field right there. That's a ball that could easily go in the dugout. That's a hard play for anybody much less a freshmen who missed the entire fall. For me, that was the play of the game.”

Duke added an insurance run in the eighth with back-to-back two-out hits from Dougherty and Proctor. Dougherty doubled to left and Proctor drove him in with an RBI base knock, the second of his two hits on the day.

“1-1 he came with a fastball and missed,” Proctor said. “He came back with another fastball and I got the barrel out and told myself I wasn't going to be late on it.”

“What a job by Evan and Chris Proctor there in the eighth,” Pollard added. “That is a huge run. To string that together with two outs, that's a big time job by those two guys out of the bottom of the lineup.”

Campbell starter Michael Horrell (0-1) suffered the loss. In his first collegiate appearance, Horrell yielded three runs – one earned – on four hits, walked two and struck out a pair.

Next up, Duke travels to Myrtle Beach, S.C., this weekend to take part in the Caravelle Resort's Baseball at the Beach Tournament. The Blue Devils faces Ohio State Friday (Feb. 26), Liberty Saturday (Feb. 27) and host team Coastal Carolina Sunday (Feb. 28).

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