Duke Comes Up Short in Opener at Baylor, 4-2

Friday, February 25

Waco, Texas

4:00 P.M.

Duke University

3-2

Baylor

2-3

Duke

Baylor

Duke Comes Up Short in Opener at Baylor, 4-2

2/25/2022 8:47:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score BOX SCORE SEASON STATS PHOTO GALLERY

WACO, Texas – The Duke Baseball team came up short, 4-2, in the series opener at Baylor on Friday afternoon at Baylor Ballpark in Waco, Texas.

Junior Chad Knight led the Blue Devils offensively, finishing with two of Duke's three hits in the contest. Knight has opened the season on a five-game hitting streak and ties to lead the program with three multi-hit games.

Junior right-handed pitcher Marcus Johnson made the most of his second career start. The Fontana, Calif., native struck out a career-high nine batters while allowing just two runs, one earned, on four hits and two walks in 5.1 innings of work. Despite the strong performance, Johnson was tagged with the loss.

Baylor's Tyler Thomas started on the mound and gave up one hit and two walks while fanning five in six shutout innings to earn the win.

Baylor jumped in front in the bottom of the second inning, scoring an unearned run off two singles and an error. The Bears added three more in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 4-0 lead.

Duke responded in the top of the seventh, loading the bases with one out. Graduate student Wil Hoyle drew a walk to put the Blue Devils on the board. Following giving up the walk, the Baylor relief pitcher produced two fly outs to get out of the bases loaded jam to keep the score at 4-1.

The Blue Devils pulled another run back in the top of the ninth inning with a run from graduate student Chris Davis on a pair of errors by the Baylor right-fielder.

Sophomore Adam Boucher was stellar in relief, closing for the Blue Devils. Boucher pitched the last two innings for the Blue Devils, striking out three and allowing just one hit in seven batters faced. Graduate student Caleb McRoy and junior Colten Smith were crucial in getting outs in matchup battles in the bottom of the sixth inning. McRoy garnered a fly out to center field and Smith recorded a strikeout.

The series between Duke and Baylor continues Saturday at 3 p.m. CST on ESPN+.

NOTES:

Johnson's nine strikeouts were the most by a Blue Devil since Henry Williams dealt 11 against Pittsburgh March 6, 2021.
Knight is the only Blue Devil on a five-game hitting streak and leads the program with a .421 batting average.
Boucher has continued a strong start to the 2022 season, pitching six strikeouts, two hits and two walks in 4.1 scoreless innings.

#GoDuke