Duke Defeats Pittsburgh, 3-1

Friday, March 5

Durham, N.C.

4 P.M.

Duke University

5-4, 0

Pittsburgh

6-2, 0

Pittsburgh

Duke

Duke Defeats Pittsburgh, 3-1

3/5/2021 8:50:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score 2021 Season Stats Coach Pollard Postgame Photo Gallery Photo Gallery

DURHAM, N.C. – Junior Cooper Stinson struck out nine as the Blue Devils defeated Pittsburgh, 3-1, on Friday evening at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in the first game of a three-game series with the Panthers.

Senior Joey Loperfido, and graduate students Peter Matt and Erikson Nichols led the Blue Devils (5-4, 2-2 ACC) offensively as all three finished the night 2-for-4. Matt also recorded two RBI.

Stinson has settled into Duke's rotation as its Friday night arm and made his third start of the 2021 season. Despite giving up a two-out solo home run in the first inning, the Peachtree Corners, Ga., native was lights out all night. Following that shot to right field, Stinson responded by retiring 19 of the next 21 batters over his remaining 6.1 innings. He finished allowing only two hits, one earned run and one walk, while fanning a season-high nine in 7.0 innings of work.

Pittsburgh (6-2, 3-1 ACC) used that solo home run in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead, but Loperfido's leadoff double in the fourth provided a spark for the Duke offense. After Loperfido advanced to third on a wild pitch, Matt brought him home following a fielder's choice to tie the game.

The game remained deadlocked at 1-1 until the Blue Devils broke through with two runs on three hits in the bottom of the sixth. A leadoff double down the right field line from Michael Rothenberg followed by an RBI single by Matt handed Duke the one-run edge. Matt then found himself on third two batters later, before senior Chris Crabtree's RBI single scored him to make it a 3-1 ballgame, a lead Duke would never relinquish.

Sophomores Billy Seidl and Marcus Johnson appeared for the Blue Devils in relief. Seidl pitched to just three batters to close out the eighth inning, while Johnson earned the save after recording one strikeout and allowing one hit in his one inning on the hill.

Duke is back on the diamond Saturday for Game 2 of the series against Pittsburgh. First pitch is scheduled for 3:02 p.m. at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Postgame Notes:

Stinson's showing was his best of the season in four categories – innings pitched (7.0), strikeouts (nine), walks (one) and runs allowed (one).
His 7.0 innings pitched matched his career high, previously set at Davidson on March 26, 2019.
In addition, Stinson's nine strikeouts were one shy of matching his career high mark of 10, also set at Davidson in 2019.
Rothenberg extended his on-base streak to 33 games and his hitting streak to a team-leading six games.
Johnson earned his first career save.

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