Blue Devils Fall to No. 5 Wake Forest in ACC Opener

Friday, March 10

Durham, N.C.

4 PM

Duke University

9-5, 0-1

Wake Forest

14-1, 1-0

Wake Forest

Duke

Blue Devils Fall to No. 5 Wake Forest in ACC Opener

3/10/2023 8:11:00 PM | Baseball

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DURHAM – Sophomore southpaw Jonathan Santucci fanned a new career-high of 11 Demon Deacons, but did not factor into the decision, as the Blue Devils (9-5, 0-1) fell to No. 5 Wake Forest (14-1, 1-0), 8-6 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Duke and Wake Forest are scheduled to play a double header on Saturday at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park beginning at 1 p.m., due to the threat of inclement weather on Sunday.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Sophomore Alex Mooney drew a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the second to open the scoring for the Blue Devils, 1-0.
Senior Damon Lux doubled to the gap in left center in score a pair and increase the Duke lead to 3-0, before freshman Tyler Albright singled through the left side to add a fourth run.
Wake Forest cut into the Blue Devils lead in the fourth with a two-run home run to right field.
The Demon Deacons tied the ballgame in the top of the fifth, scoring a pair.
Wake Forest took the lead in the top of the seventh with a three-run home run to left field, 8-4.
Sophomore Devin Obee hit a pinch-hit two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth to cut into the Wake Forest lead, 8-6.

NOTES

Sophomore Jonathan Santucci had a career day on the mound for the Blue Devils, striking out 11 Demon Deacons and working 4.1 innings.
Graduate transfer MJ Metz returned to form on Friday, finishing 2-for-2 with two walks and a run scored.
Freshman Andrew Fischer ties the longest hitting streak on the team this season, singling in the third inning. Fischer finished the day 2-for-5 with a double and run scored.
Sophomore Devin Obee hit a pinch-hit two-run home run to left field in the bottom of the eighth inning on Friday to cut the Demon Deacons lead to two runs. It was the first pinch-hit home run since Giovanni DiGiacomo homered against Baylor off the bench on Feb. 25.
Graduate transfer Jason White worked three clean innings on Friday night in relief, striking out three batters and allowing two hits.

QUOTES

"I told our guys after the game, they are a good offense, but we made them better tonight with the free bases. That is something we haven't done a lot this year and we can't be too fine with what they have done this far into the season. We had 15 strikeouts tonight against a team that is very tough to strikeout." – Head coach Chris Pollard on the ability to limit Wake Forest but giving too many free passes.
"I thought it was a great job by Devin coming off the bench and giving us a spark with the two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth. He earned himself a start tomorrow that's for sure. We had the tying run on base thanks to a good at bat by Alex Stone, so we gave ourselves a chance, but unfortunately, we were digging ourselves out of a hole that was a little too big tonight." – On the spark off the bench by Devin Obee.

UP NEXT

The Blue Devils and Demon Deacons are scheduled to play two games at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park on Saturday. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 1 p.m. with game two following 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first.

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