Knight Doubles Duke Past UMass Lowell, 5-4

Wednesday, March 9

Durham, N.C.

4:00 P.M.

Duke University

8-5

UMass Lowell

3-8

UMass Lowell

Duke

Knight Doubles Duke Past UMass Lowell, 5-4

3/9/2022 8:28:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score BOX SCORE SEASON STATS PHOTO GALLERY COACH POLLARD POSTGAME

DURHAM – Junior Chad Knight went 3-for-4 with three doubles to pace the Duke baseball team to a 5-4 victory over UMass Lowell on Wednesday night at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Knight's three doubles were a career high. He also tallied three RBIs in the contest. Graduate student Chris Davis and senior Damon Lux also had multi-hit outings, as Davis finished 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs and Lux finished 2-for-4.

Rookie southpaw Jonathan Santucci started on the mound for the Blue Devils. In a declared staff day, Santucci was extremely efficient. He allowed just one hit while striking out a career-high four batters in three scoreless innings of work. Sophomore Adam Boucher earned the win in relief, giving up one run on three hits and a walk.

"For me, the biggest bright spot in terms of pitching today was Jonathan Santucci," head coach Chris Pollard said. "What a terrific job coming out in the spot start. Was really good, stayed in the zone. That is the Jonathan that we have seen the past eight months. He got off to a little bit of a rocky start, but these last two outings have shown you the Jonathan Santucci that teams around the league are going to have to deal with."

Duke struck first and held a 3-0 lead after the fourth inning. In the bottom of the second inning, Knight doubled down the left field line to score graduate student Chris Crabtree from first. Later in the inning, Davis plated Knight on a sacrifice fly to right field.

The River Hawks tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the fifth inning, scoring a trio of runs on four hits and a walk. Duke responded with two more runs in the fifth inning, stringing together three consecutive hits with two outs. Freshman Alex Mooney beat out an infield single and Chris Crabtree poked a single to shallow left field. Knight stepped up and knocked his third two-bagger of the day to score both runs and restore the Duke lead, 5-3.

"It was huge," Pollard said. "When you move the baseball, you give yourself a chance to do that. We did a good job putting the ball in play with two outs. Then got Chad to the plate, and he capitalized on it and it proved to be the difference in the ball game."

UMass Lowell threatened again in the top of the seventh, loading the bases with one out. Senior Jimmy Loper entered to close for the Blue Devils. After a run scored and a runner reached on an error, Loper snagged a ball and turned a double play to get out of the jam.

Loper was stellar in the final two innings and earned the save, his second of the season. He finished his outing without allowing a hit or walk in 2.2 innings pitched and struck out the side in the ninth to close the door.

Duke opens ACC play on Friday as it hosts Virginia for a three-game series at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park this weekend. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m. Friday and the game will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra and the Varsity Network App.

NOTES:

Knight's three doubles in one game were the most in a single game since Cris Perez hit three against UMES on March 15, 2016, nearly six years ago.
Santucci and Loper were extremely efficient, each throwing just 38 and 30 pitches, respectively, in multi-inning outings.

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