Duke Falls to No. 11 Georgia Tech, 5-2

Friday, March 26

Durham, N.C.

7 P.M.

Duke University

9-9, 0

Georgia Tech

12-6, 0

Georgia Tech

Duke

Duke Falls to No. 11 Georgia Tech, 5-2

3/27/2021 12:12:00 AM | Baseball

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DURHAM – The Duke baseball team dropped a 5-2 decision to No. 11 Georgia Tech on Friday at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in downtown Durham to open a three-game ACC series.

Graduate student Peter Matt and senior Chris Crabtree led the way for Duke offensively, each collecting two of Duke's eight hits. Matt had a pair of singles in his first two at-bats and scored. Crabtree, a native of Bahama, N.C., finished with a double and an RBI single.

Junior Cooper Stinson worked around trouble to strike out the side in the first inning but did not return due to muscle tightness. Duke's bullpen was called into action early and four Blue Devils kept the Yellow Jackets' offense in check before back-to-back home runs in the sixth inning allowed the visitors to stretch their lead from 3-2 to 5-2.

Duke (9-9, 4-6 ACC) saw Georgia Tech (12-6, 9-4) jump out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning. The Blue Devils cracked the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth as Matt scored from second on an RBI single from Crabtree after leading off the inning with a single and moving to scoring position on a wild pitch.

The Blue Devils cut the lead to 3-2 in the next inning thanks to junior Ethan Murray's sacrifice fly that scored Wil Hoyle. The redshirt junior started the inning with a double to the right field gap and moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch.

Redshirt sophomore Oliver McCarthy pitched 2.1 innings of scoreless relief, allowing three hits, a walk and two strikeouts. Senior Matt Dockman blanked the Yellow Jackets over the final three innings with one hit and two strikeouts. The loss was tagged to reliever Josh Nifong, who was called into action in the second after Stinson's early exit, while Brant Hurter went seven innings to earn the win for Georgia Tech.

Duke and Georgia Tech face off in game two of the series Saturday night at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. First pitch is 7 p.m. and the game is live on ACC Network.

Postgame Notes:

Matt recorded his eighth multi-hit game this season, tying with teammate junior RJ Schreck to lead the team.
Sophomore Colten Smith made his second collegiate appearance, allowing two runs, both earned, and fanning three in 1.2 innings of work.
Senior Joey Loperfido reached base for the 11^th consecutive game, a streak that leads the team, thanks to a walk and a hit by pitch.

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