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No. 22 Duke Welcomes Penn for Two Midweek Contests
3/4/2019 7:36:00 PM | Baseball
| THE MATCHUP | ||||||||||||
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| No. 22 Duke vs. Penn |
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| When: March 5-6 | ||||||||||||
| Where: Durham Bulls Athletic Park | ||||||||||||
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Leading Off
- After a successful first road trip, Duke returns to Durham for a pair of midweek matchups, welcoming Penn to Durham Bulls Athletic Park Tuesday and Wednesday in its final tuneup before conference action.
- The Blue Devils and Quakers will meet for the 22nd time in program history Tuesday afternoon, with Duke holding the series advantage, 12-8-1.
- Most recently, the two schools met on the same exact date in 2013, splitting the two-game midweek series one apiece.
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Tuesday's projected starter, junior left-hander Bill Chillari, ranks third in the ACC in WHIP with a mark of 0.64. The southpaw has allowed only five hits and two walks across his 11.0 innings of work, which include five appearances and two starts. Chillari owns a 2-0 record on the season.
Series History
Duke and Penn will meet for the 22nd time in program history in Tuesday's midweek matchup. The Blue Devils hold the series advantage over the Quakers, 12-8-1, including a 7-2 mark over the Ivy League foe at home. Most recently, Duke welcomed Penn to Jack Coombs Field for a pair of midweek matchups in 2013, splitting the series one apiece. The Blue Devils fell, 0-6, in game one, before bouncing back in the second game of the series with an 8-1 victory. Head coach Chris Pollard holds a 1-1 career record against Penn.
Against the Ivy League
In program history, Duke owns a combined record of 89-39-3 (.565) against current members of the Ivy League: Brown (12-3), Columbia (7-1), Cornell (11-4), Dartmouth (8-5), Harvard (4-2), Penn (12-8-1), Princeton (23-10) and Yale (12-6-2). Most recently, Duke welcomed both Cornell and Yale to Durham a season ago, posting an unblemished 5-0 record in the 2018 campaign against Ivy League opponents. Chris Pollard holds a 19-3 career record against current members of the Ivy League, including a 14-1 during his time at Duke. The Blue Devils have a pair of former Ivy League players on its current roster in graduate transfers Kyle Gallagher (Cornell) and Ben Gross (Princeton).
Hot Start for the Devils
The Blue Devils are off to a hot start in the 2019 campaign, holding a 9-2 record across their first 11 games. This season has included a weekend sweep over Lehigh, a pair of series wins over Big Ten opponents in Northwestern and Penn State, and a pair of midweek victories over Davidson and Richmond. This past weekend, Duke traveled to Bradenton, Fla., for its first road trip of the season, facing off against Penn State in a neutral site matchup. The Blue Devils won the bookend games of the series, which included a combined no-hitter from the Duke pitching staff in Friday's opener. After dropping game two of the series in a tight one-run contest, the Blue Devils battled back from behind to score nine unanswered runs in Sunday's series finale to take down the Nittany Lions, 9-2, and clinch their third consecutive weekend series win in the final weekend tuneup before conference action.
No-Hit Wonder
In Friday's series opener against Penn State, the Duke pitching staff tossed a combined no-hitter, leading the Blue Devils to a 14-0 victory over the Nittany Lions. The no-hitter served as only the sixth in school history, and the first since Tom Blackburn accomplished the feat against Rollins in 1955. The Duke pitching staff tallied 11 strikeouts across the nine hitless innings, while only surrendering two walks. Headlining the effort was starting pitcher Graeme Stinson (2-0), who worked the first 5.0 innings, collecting five punchouts, and allowing two walks to earn his second win of the season. Sophomore Matt Dockman followed in relief, tossing 1.0 inning and recording one strikeout, while freshman Jack Carey went on to work the final 3.0 frames, notching five strikeouts to earn his first career save.
Captain Kennie
Senior co-captain Kennie Taylor has proved to be a leader across the 2019 campaign, both on and off the field for this year's team. Taylor, the squad's starting center fi elder, leads the ballclub in multiple statistical categories, including hits (17), doubles (6), RBI (16) and runs (12), while tying for the team-lead in two others -- home runs (3) and stolen bases (4). The Tampa, Fla., native is currently tied for third in the ACC in both hits and doubles, with 16 and 6, respectively, and has reached base safely in every contest this season. This past weekend, Taylor came up clutch in the series finale against Penn State, recording his first career grand slam, as part of a six-RBI, multi-home run performance. His grand slam scored Duke's first runs of Sunday's contest, pushing the Blue Devils ahead 4-2, while his second home run of the day padded the lead in a 9-2 series-clinching victory for Duke.
Blue Devil Bombers
The Duke offense has come alive as of late, as the Blue Devils have registered at least one home run in their past eight consecutive ballgames, totaling 11 long balls across the span. Leading the way for the Blue Devils are sophomore Michael Rothenberg and senior Kennie Taylor, who have each recorded three apiece. Graduate transfer Kyle Gallagher has added a pair of home runs to his totals, while the trio of freshmen Rudy Maxwell and Ethan Murray and junior Matt Mervis have each recorded one, marking the first of their respective careers. The offensive explosion has led the Blue Devils to a season total of 84 RBI, which tie for second in the ACC, and 92 runs scored, which tie for third in the conference.
On Deck for Duke
Following the pair of midweek matchups with Penn, the Blue Devils will hit the road once again this weekend, traveling to Charlottesville, Va., to face off with Virginia in a three-game series. The matchup between the Blue Devils and the Cavaliers will serve as the first conference series of the 2019 campaign.
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