Duke Beats Pitt, Clinches ACC Tourney Spot

Friday, May 20

Pittsburgh, Pa.

6:00 PM

Duke University

Pittsburgh

Duke Beats Pitt, Clinches ACC Tourney Spot

5/20/2016 9:55:00 PM | Baseball

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By: Duke Sports Information

PITTSBURGH – Duke scored the first seven runs and held off a late Pitt rally to down the Panthers, 7-5, Friday evening at Charles L. Cost Field. With the victory, Duke (33-21, 14-15 ACC) became the seventh team to clinch a spot in the upcoming ACC Tournament.

Sophomore Jack Labosky had two RBI, homered in the fifth and recorded the final seven outs to pick up his first career save. Classmate Justin Bellinger also homered and finished the game a triple shy of the cycle. Bellinger made a spectacular diving stop to wrap up the seventh with two runners aboard.

Graduate student Trent Swart (4-2) registered his second consecutive quality start in the win, allowing three runs on seven hits over 6.1 innings. Swart did not issue a walk and recorded three strikeouts, bringing his career total to 257 and moving him into ninth all-time in program history.

“Trent pitched a great ballgame,” said head coach Chris Pollard. “Really again threw three pitches for strikes. Didn't walk a guy in six and a third. Any time he got to three-ball counts, he was able to force contact. Another terrific start for him. We got the lead early and he did exactly what you want to do with a lead like that which is force guys to swing the bat.”

Duke struck first on Bellinger's leadoff solo home run in the second. Bellinger muscled Josh Falk's 1-1 fastball the opposite way for his sixth homer of the season. The home run was the first of three hits for Bellinger on the day.

“Justin really hit the ball to all fields,” Pollard said. “Three hits -- two to the back side and one up the middle -- really showed his maturation as a hitter.”

Freshman Zack Kone lined a second-inning leadoff single and Duke registered four consecutive one-out hits to score five runs. After an error by Pitt's shortstop, freshman Chris Proctor sent his first career triple into left center, plating two. Labosky followed with an RBI single and Bellinger tacked on a RBI double. Junior Cris Perez finished up the scoring with an RBI base knock of his own, giving Duke a 6-0 advantage.

“Really swung the bats well early against Falk,” Pollard added. “We strung good at bats together. Chris Proctor had really good at bats tonight. Great at bat [in the third]. Didn't try to do too much with the infield in there. He found the perfect spot. We've had a couple of times where we had second and third and didn't deliver. When Proctor got that big hit, it helped everybody relax.”

Labosky launched his team-leading eighth homer to center in the fifth, extending Duke's margin to 7-0. Seven of Labosky's long balls this season have come in ACC play.

Falk (3-7) ultimately took the loss. He allowed seven runs – five earned -- on eight hits over 7.0 innings with three strikeouts.

Swart kept the Panthers off the board until the fifth. Frank Maldonado lined a one-out triple to left center and crossed home on Jacob Wright RBI ground out to the right side.

Pitt struck for three runs on four seventh-inning hits to cut the margin to 7-4. David Yanni began with a leadoff double and Pitt received hits from Matt Johnson, Maldonado and Charles Leblanc.

Labosky took the mound with two outs in the seventh and got off the field with a grounder to first. Pitt singled twice in the eighth, but a double play and strikeout kept the lead intact. Labosky fanned the first two ninth-inning batters before Leblanc and Alex Kowalcyzk added back-to-back doubles to trim the lead, 7-5. Labosky was able to finish the save, inducing a groundball to third for the final out.

“Really great job by Jack,” Pollard said. “Really had to grind there. We knew it wasn't going to be easy in the ninth. You knew they were going to make a run. Very, very proud of our club.”

Duke and Pitt take the field for the series finale at 11 a.m., Saturday, May 21 at Charles L. Cost Field.

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