Healy Tosses Career Outing, Home Runs Lift Duke Over Davidson

Tuesday, April 11

Durham, N.C.

6 PM

Duke University

21-11

Davidson

19-12

Davidson

Duke

Healy Tosses Career Outing, Home Runs Lift Duke Over Davidson

4/11/2023 9:55:00 PM | Baseball

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DURHAM – Duke Baseball (21-11) improved to 12-0 on the season when scoring double digits in a game, defeating Davidson (19-12), 19-0, at Jack Coombs Field on Tuesday evening. The Blue Devils crushed four home runs and freshman Andrew Healy earned his second consecutive victory on the mound, improving to 2-1 on the season.

Junior Alex Stone becomes the first Blue Devil to hit a home run in back-to-back plate appearances since RJ Schreck hit home runs in back-to-back at bats against Wright State in the 2021 Knoxville Regional.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Junior Alex Stone opened the scoring for the Blue Devils, hitting a two-run home run to left field, 2-0. Later in the inning, Giovanni DiGiacomo grounded back to the pitcher to score Luke Storm from third. Graduate transfer MJ Metz added to the first inning tally, hitting a grand slam to left field, 7-0.
Stone hit his second home run of the night, a solo shot in the bottom of the second inning, 8-0. Metz doubled down the line in right to clear the bases, 11-0. Graduate transfer Cole Hebble singled to center field to score Metz from second, 12-0.
Sophomore Alex Mooney tripled to right center field, scoring Hebble from third, 13-0. Freshman Andrew Fischer grounded out to first base to score Mooney from third, 14-0. Storm hit a solo home run to right center field to extend the lead in the bottom of the fifth, 15-0.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Mooney was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to add to the scoring, 16-0. Sophomore Andrew Yu grounded out to second base to score Mooney from third, 19-0.

NOTES

Junior Alex Stone produced the first multi-home run game of the season by a Blue Devil, since Jay Beshears hit two against Clemson on the road. He is the first Duke player to accomplish the feat in back-to-back plate appearances since RJ Schreck did it against Wright State in 2021.
Graduate transfer MJ Metz hit a grand slam in the first inning of Tuesday's game, the first since Beshears hit his second against Princeton on Mar. 4. The grand slam capped off a seven run first inning for Duke. He finished the night with seven RBI, the most by a Blue Devil this season.
The Blue Devils seven run first inning was the first since March 15, 2023, when Duke scored seven in the second inning at Fluor Field against Presbyterian.
Freshman Andrew Healy tossed a career high four innings and punched out a career high six batters in Tuesday's contest. He improved to 2-1 on the season, accumulating 20 innings of work with only one walk.
Junior Luke Storm hit his seventh home run of the season on Tuesday, a solo home run to right center field.
Tuesday marked the 12th game this season that Duke has produced double digit runs, improving to 12-0 in those contests.
Duke's fifth shutout of the season ranks sixth all-time for shutouts in a single season. It is the fifth time under head coach Chris Pollard to produce five or more shutouts in a year.
The 17 strikeouts produced by Duke's pitching staff tied the season high in that category. The Blue Devils produced 17 strikeouts against Baylor on February 24, 2023.
The 52 home runs to this point in the season are the ninth most all-time for Duke in a single season. That number is fourth most under head coach Chris Pollard.

QUOTES

"If all of the sudden he [Healy] lets them get a few runs then the game plays out totally different. All of a sudden their starter has some confidence and we were able to capture some momentum in the top of the first. To have second and third nobody out, he makes a great play on the PFP play to get the first out, then goes strikeout strikeout to get off the field, I thought was really tough. Man has that kid come a long way and I am really impressed with his stuff and ability to get back in the zone when he needs to is incredible. He now has 20 innings of baseball and only one walk." – Head coach Chris Pollard on the job Andrew Healy did in the top of the first to escape with no runs across.
"I love the at bats by Alex Stone tonight. It has been fun to watch him get going. He wasn't a guy that came out of the gates hot. He has had to grind to get to this point and he is in a good place offensively. MJ Metz has been playing well and I love the job that Cole Hebble did off the bench to give us a great start." – On the offensive fight the team showed tonight.