Duke Clinches Series with 2-0 Shutout Win over Cornell

Saturday, February 22

Durham Bulls Athletic Park

1 p.m.

Duke University

5-1

Cornell

0-2

Cornell

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Duke Clinches Series with 2-0 Shutout Win over Cornell

2/22/2020 4:51:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Boxscore

DURHAM, N.C. – A stellar effort by the Blue Devil pitching staff carried the 16^th-ranked Duke baseball team to a 2-0 shutout victory over Cornell on Saturday afternoon at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. With the win, the Blue Devils improve to 5-1 on the campaign, while the Big Red fall to 0-2.

Duke received another standout performance from its starter in Saturday's matchup, this time being sophomore right-hander Cooper Stinson (2-0). Stinson was sharp for his second start of the season, working 6.0 innings of two-hit baseball, while allowing only one walk. The Norcross, Ga., native struck out six batters across the 80-pitch effort to pick up his second win of the season.

"We saw more of the same from Cooper Stinson compared to what we saw last week versus Army," said head coach Chris Pollard. "He threw three pitches in the strike zone. He was executing his slider in the zone and his splitter-change in the zone. He was throwing a lot of strikes with his fastball and pitching ahead, I was really impressed."

Stinson turned the ball over to the junior duo of Matt Dockman and Thomas Girard, who combined to allow only one hit across the final three frames. Dockman tossed 2.0 innings, yielding one hit and one walk while racking up a trio of punchouts. Girard worked a clean inning in the ninth notch his first save of the season and the team's fourth consecutive shutout—the longest stretch in program history.

After the two teams went scoreless across the first four innings, the Blue Devils broke into the scoring column with one run in the fifth. The frame began with back-to-back singles from senior Erikson Nichols and freshman Grant Norris, before both runners advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch. One out later, sophomore Ethan Murray crossed the game's first run with a sacrifice fly to center field to move Duke in front, 1-0.

The Blue Devils added insurance in the seventh with another single tally to extend their lead. Junior Chris Crabtree led off the inning with a single to right field before moving into scoring position on an error by the Cornell outfielder. After advancing to third on a sacrifice bunt attempt, Crabtree came across to score on a wild pitch to set the score at 2-0, the eventual final.

The two teams return to the diamond on Sunday afternoon, as Duke looks to secure its first series sweep of the season. The Blue Devils will look to sophomore right-hander Jack Carey for the start, while the Big Red will counter with senior righty John Natoli. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. from the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, with action airing live 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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