Blue Devils Rally to Sweep No. 12 Louisville

Sunday, April 23

Durham, N.C.

1 PM

Duke University

Louisville

Blue Devils Rally to Sweep No. 12 Louisville

4/23/2023 5:13:00 PM | Baseball

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DURHAM – Junior Alex Stone delivered the game winning, two-RBI single to left field in the bottom of the eighth inning, to complete the sweep over No. 12 Louisville (26-13, 8-10 ACC), 4-3, for the Blue Devils (27-12, 12-8 ACC).

Freshman Edward Hart improved to 1-0 on the season, while freshman James Tallon collected his ninth save of the season, moving into a tie for sixth all-time in a single season. He is now two saves away from tying Kenny Koplove in 2015 with 11.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Graduate transfer MJ Metz hit a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning to open the scoring, 1-0.
Louisville tied the ballgame in the top of the fourth inning, 1-1.
The Cardinals took the lead in the top of the fifth inning, 2-1.
Louisville added insurance in the top of the eighth inning, 3-1.
Sophomore Alex Mooney singled up the middle to score Cole Hebble from second, 3-2. Junior Alex Stone singled through the left side to score a pair, 4-3.

NOTES

Graduate transfer MJ Metz hit his eighth home run of the season, a solo home run to left center field. He hit a home run in back-to-back games this weekend.
The 70 home runs on the season, ties the 2022 team for fifth all-time in a single season. The tally is tied for second most under head coach Chris Pollard.
Junior Alex Stone finished the day 1-for-4, collecting his lone hit in the bottom of the eighth inning to give Duke the lead. He extends his team-leading hitting streak to 13 games.
Duke's five-game winning streak is the longest of the season.
It is the first sweep over a ranked opponent since 2022, when Duke swept No. 10 Notre Dame at Jack Coombs Field.

QUOTES

"I thought it was a tremendous job. First off Higgins pitched great for us. He got us into the fifth inning and had three pitches working. It was the first time I saw him throw right-on-right changeup and it produced some swing and miss. That was a great start by Higgins to get us to that point. Guys came in and did their role out of the pen. The job Beilenson does to take the ball day after day. That was a huge zero in the ballgame. Romano and Hart piecing together those next two innings was big for us. Tallon, what can you say. His stuff today was better than it was yesterday, and he had to go right through the teeth of their lineup." – Head coach Chris Pollard on the job the pitching staff did to give an opportunity for the offense to breakthrough.
"We've called it the "unwillingness to be denied" this season. We knew we would have to wait out Liggett. He is the best Sunday guy in the league and one of the best starters in the league. He will be in the discussion for conference pitcher of the year. He has been so good for getting Sunday's for them, because of his talent. We knew we were just going to have to wait him out. We had a few missed opportunities there, but we were able to grind it out and get the opportunities from their pen." – On the offense rallying back in the eighth inning to complete the sweep.

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