Duke Tops UNC Greensboro 5-2

Tuesday, March 23

Durham, N.C.

4 P.M.

Duke University

9-8

UNC Greensboro

11-9

UNC Greensboro

Duke

Duke Tops UNC Greensboro 5-2

3/23/2021 9:26:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score Season Stats Coach Pollard Postgame

DURHAM – Freshman southpaw Luke Fox earned his first collegiate win as Duke topped UNC Greensboro, 5-2, on Tuesday night at Jack Coombs Field.

Graduate student Peter Matt led the way for Duke offensively, going 3-for-4 with an RBI. Redshirt junior Wil Hoyle went 2-for-2 with two runs, a triple and a bunt single for a strong showing at the plate.

Junior Josh Nifong made his second start of the season on the hill for the Blue Devils. In 3.0 innings of work, the High Point, N.C., native allowed two runs, both earned, on two hits and two walks. Fox was the first Blue Devil out of the bullpen and threw three scoreless innings with three strikeouts, a walk and a hit.

Duke (8-8, 4-5 ACC) scored a run in the bottom of the first as Matt recorded an RBI single to right field to score senior Joey Loperfido from second. UNC Greensboro (11-9, 0-1 SoCon) responded with a two-run home run in the top of the second inning to take a 2-1 lead. Duke matched the Spartans in the bottom half of the inning, plating graduate Erikson Nichols and Hoyle on a two-RBI single by Loperfido.

The Blue Devils added another run in the sixth to take a 4-2 lead. Hoyle led the inning off with a triple, later to be scored by a sacrifice fly from senior Michael Rothenberg.

UNCG threatened in the eighth inning as it had runners on second and third with no outs. Duke junior Jimmy Loper dialed in, retiring the next two batters with back-to-back looking punchouts. The next batter hit one to left field but a diving catch by junior RJ Schreck kept the Blue Devils' lead and got out of the jam.

Duke plated another in the eighth to reach the final score of 5-2.

Loper earned the save for the Blue Devils, finishing with two strikeouts and two hits in 2.0 innings pitched. Sophomore Billy Seidl also made an appearance on the mound, pitching a perfect seventh inning by striking out all three batters faced.

Duke returns to conference play this weekend as the Blue Devils host No. 11 Georgia Tech for a three-game series at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in downtown Durham.

Postgame Notes:

Hoyle hit the third triple of his career, his last coming against Minnesota last season.
Loper recorded his second save of the season.
Rothenberg totaled two RBIs on Tuesday, bringing his career total to 99 RBIs.
Matt stole his fifth base of the 2021 season to lead the team.

#GoDuke