Rothenberg’s Grand Slam Leads Duke Past Campbell, 5-0

Wednesday, March 4

Durham Bulls Athletic Park

4 p.m.

Duke University

10-2

Campbell

5-7

Campbell

Duke

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Rothenberg’s Grand Slam Leads Duke Past Campbell, 5-0

3/4/2020 7:50:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Boxscore

DURHAM, N.C. – A grand slam from junior Michael Rothenberg led the 12^th-ranked Duke baseball team to a 5-0 victory over in-state foe Campbell on Wednesday afternoon at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. With the win, the Blue Devils earn their 10^th win of the season and improve to 10-2, while Campbell falls to 5-7.

"(Our pitchers) were really impressive, they're fun to watch and they've been pitching great," said head coach Chris Pollard. "We had seven hits, but we had seven other balls that hit relatively on the screws. I thought we grinded out some good at-bats and I feel good about that going into the weekend."

Duke plated four runs in the third inning as Rothenberg left the yard, marking his second home run of the season and his second career grand slam. With one down in the inning, sophomore Rudy Maxwell reached on a hit-by-pitch before fellow sophomore Ethan Murray lined a double to center field to place runners on second and third. After senior Chase Cheek reached on a four-pitch walk, Rothenberg connected on the third pitch of the at-bat, sending a deep drive to right field to place the Blue Devils in the scoring column.

The Duke arms were exceptional once again, notching their sixth shutout of the campaign, which matches last season's total and ties for fourth in program history. Senior starter Bill Chillari (3-0) picked up his third win of the season, working 3.0 scoreless innings while scattering two hits and one walk and striking out one.

Junior Josh Nifong covered the middle innings, tossing 3.0 innings, while yielding two hits and punching out a pair. The trio of redshirt freshman Jimmy Loper, senior Eli Herrick and junior Thomas Girard combined to work the final three frames, each working one inning apiece, highlighted by three strikeouts from Loper.

Offensively, the Blue Devils were paced by their 1-2-3 hitters in the lineup, who contributed five of the team's seven hits. Murray and Cheek closed out the contest with two hits apiece, while Rothenberg added one hit with his home run.

Duke returns to the diamond on Friday afternoon, as the Blue Devils are set to host Florida State for a three-game weekend series in the ACC opener. 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.

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