Duke Outlasts Liberty on the Road, 8-7

Tuesday, April 19

Lynchburg, Va.

6:00 PM

Duke University

Liberty

Duke Outlasts Liberty on the Road, 8-7

4/19/2016 10:37:00 PM | Baseball

BASE at LIBERTY: Audio Archive

By: Duke Sports Information

LYNCHBURG, Va. – In a back-and-forth game featuring 25 hits, 16 walks, 13 different pitchers and six lead changes, Duke outlasted Liberty, 8-7, Tuesday evening at Liberty Baseball Stadium.

The two teams traded tallies over the first six frames, resulting in an 8-7 Blue Devil advantage following Justin Bellinger's third home run of the season. Sophomores Ryan Day, Jack Labosky and Mitch Stallings did not allow a run over the final four innings to preserve the victory.

“Four really good innings there at the end to pick up the win,” said head coach Chris Pollard. “From about the sixth inning on, we played really good, clean baseball. I'm not sure we were tough enough to win a game like this a month ago. We've grown up a lot.”

Sophomore Max Miller led Duke (21-17) with three hits. Bellinger, Labosky and Michael Smiciklas added two hits each, while Labosky also drove in four RBI and pitched 1.1 scoreless innings in relief.

“We had a really good offensive approach,” Pollard said. “We talked coming into the game about the fact that if we were patient we'd get some free offense and we got a bunch of it. When we got guys on, we did a good job of getting the big hit.”

Hitting at the top of the Duke order, freshmen Jimmy Herron and Chris Proctor reached base 10 times, combining for one hit, seven walks and two hit by pitches. Herron coaxed four free bases and Proctor collected three.

“When you get that type of on base production out of the first two guys in your lineup and you have Labosky and Bellinger swinging it the way they are,” Pollard added, “you like your chances to score runs.”

Liberty (20-18) exploited a pair of leadoff walks in the first inning. A wild pitch advanced the runners and Andrew Yacyk drove in the game's opening run with a grounder to short.

Peter Zyla greeted the second with Duke's first hit. After Liberty right-hander Parker Bean retired the next two batters, Duke received an RBI single through the rightside courtesy of Miller. Bean walked three Blue Devils in the frame, including a free pass to Proctor to plate Duke's second run.

A couple walks and a high chopper loaded the bases in the Liberty second before the Flames picked up two runs on a Duke fielding error.

Bellinger doubled and scored on a Smiciklas two-out RBI single to tie the score at three-all in the third.

Herron and Proctor were both hit by a pitch to start the fourth. Labosky re-established the Duke lead, driving his 15^th double of the season down the left field line to knock in his 31^st and 32^nd RBI of the year.

Liberty struck for three runs on five straight two-out singles to conclude the fourth before a Labosky bases-loaded base hit gave Duke the 7-6 margin. The Flames were able to tie the game one final time on a D.J. Artis fifth-innning RBI fielder's choice.

Tied at 7-7 after five, Bellinger lifted a leadoff homer over the right center wall to give the Blue Devils a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the night.

Stallings entered the game in the ninth and collected his fifth save of the season. Liberty put the leadoff man abroad but Stallings induced a grounder to second to clinch the win.

“It was a terrific job by Mitch,” Pollard said. “He did a heck of a job to make a play on a bunt and Bellinger makes a great play behind him. He makes the big pitch to get off the field with a runner on third. That was a really gutty effort.”

Duke hits the road for Virginia Tech this coming weekend, taking on the Hokies in Blacksburg, Va., Friday-Sunday, April 22-24.

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