Pitching Staff Shines as Duke Blanks William & Mary, 5-0

Tuesday, February 18

Durham Bulls Athletic Park

4 p.m.

Duke University

3-1

William & Mary

0-4

William & Mary

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Pitching Staff Shines as Duke Blanks William & Mary, 5-0

2/18/2020 7:53:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Boxscore

DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke baseball team used five pitchers to combine for a 5-0 shutout of William & Mary on Tuesday afternoon at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The shutout was the second consecutive blanking for the Duke pitching staff and moved the Blue Devils' overall record to 3-1, while William & Mary fell to 0-4 on the season.

"I think we're throwing really well right now," said head coach Chris Pollard. "Even with our two walks, we were trying to execute 3-2 breaking balls. We've got guys that are really comfortable throwing any pitch in any count. That keeps guys off balance and we're getting some bad swings. We're doing a good job of getting ahead and that's putting us in position to get a lot of soft contact."

The Blue Devil pitchers only allowed two walks, while combining for 10 strikeouts for the second straight game. Duke retired a span of 16 straight batters, spanning from the first to the sixth inning, after allowing a leadoff single to begin the game.

Senior left-hander Bill Chillari (1-0) got the start for the Blue Devils, and was impressive as he picked up his first win of the season. The southpaw worked 3.0 innings, while collecting two punchouts and retiring eight in a row to close out his outing on the mound. The foursome of senior Eli Herrick, junior Matt Dockman, sophomore Jack Carey and senior Matt Mervis combined to work the final six frames for the Duke bullpen, scattering only three hits to keep the Tribe offense at bay.

"I'm proud of Bill Chillari," Pollard added. "What a great competitor and a selfless teammate. He's just always ready to take the ball. He's ready to take the ball every time we ask him to and he pitched great today."

Duke jumped out to an early lead behind a pair of first-inning runs to gain momentum. Junior Joey Loperfido began the frame with a single to right field before advancing into scoring position on a stolen base. One out later, classmate Michael Rothenberg drove home Loperfido with a RBI double to deep center field, crossing the game's first run. Mervis followed with a RBI single through the right side to plate Rothenberg and make it a 2-0 contest after one full.

The Blue Devils tallied three runs across the fourth and fifth innings to cushion their lead, beginning with a single tally in the fourth. Senior co-captain Chase Cheek connected on his second career home run in the frame, sending a solo shot into the right field bleachers to push the lead to 3-0.

The Duke fifth began with a leadoff walk to Loperfido before sophomore Ethan Murray lined a double off the left field wall to place runners on second and third. In the next at-bat, Rothenberg sent a ball to deep center field for a sacrifice fly, which allowed both runners to cross and set the score at 5-0, the eventual final.

Duke returns to the diamond on Friday afternoon, as the Blue Devils are set to host Cornell for a three-game weekend series. The two teams are set for a 4 p.m. first pitch in Friday's series opener, while Saturday's and Sunday's games are both slated for 1 p.m. Fans can catch all of the action on ACC Network Extra.

For more information on Duke baseball, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching for "DukeBaseball". You can also find all-access coverage of all Duke athletic programs on SnapChat by searching for "dukeathletics".

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