No. 12 Duke Rolls to 8-2 Victory Over Northwestern

Saturday, February 24

Durham, N.C.

3 p.m.

Duke University

6-0

Northwestern

1-4

Northwestern

Duke

No. 12 Duke Rolls to 8-2 Victory Over Northwestern

2/24/2024 6:22:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)Photo Gallery

DURHAM – No. 12 Duke (6-0) scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning to pace the ballgame and defeat Northwestern (1-4) 8-2 on Saturday at Jack Coombs Field. Sophomore Andrew Healy earned the win in his second start of the season, working four innings and striking out three.

The Blue Devils batted around in the first for the second time this season, first being at the Baseball at the Beach Tournament in Conway, S.C. against George Mason, stringing together 10 quality at bats to take a 5-1 lead. Duke never looked back, adding three more runs to their line score, highlighted by Wallace Clark's towering solo home run off the scoreboard in right field.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Northwestern opened the scoring in the top of the first inning, 1-0.
In the bottom of the first, Ben Miller tied the ballgame singling to right center field to score Zac Morris from second. AJ Gracia hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Miller from third. Devin Obee singled to right field to score Alex Stone from third. Macon Winslow flied out to right field to score Logan Bravo from third. Kyle Johnson tripled down the line in right to score Obee from second, 5-1.
Winslow doubled to left field to score Gracia from second in the bottom of the third, 6-1.
Clark hit a solo home run to right field. Stone flied out to center field to score Morris from third, 8-1.
Northwestern added a run in the top of the ninth, 8-2.

NOTES

Duke batted around in the first inning for the second time this season, scoring five runs in the bottom half. It marks the second time this season that the Blue Devils have sent nine or more batters to the plate in the first since Saturday in Conway against George Mason.
Freshman Kyle Johnson collected the first triple of the season for Duke, punching a ball down the line in right to score a run.
Junior Wallace Clark tallied the 18th home run of the season for the Blue Devils and his second of the year, a solo shot off the scoreboard in right field.
Sophomore Andrew Healy picked up the win in his second start of the season, working four inning of four-hit baseball. He struck out three batters and tossed 84 pitches.
Duke improves to 6-0 on the season for the first time since 2019.
Graduate transfer Ben Miller extended his hitting streak to six games on Saturday, finishing the afternoon with a 2-for-3 line. He also was hit by a pitch in the game.

QUOTES

"I told our team two things that I really liked about today's performance. Number one was we had a great answer in the first inning after we got tied up in knots yesterday. They came out and scored a run and felt like they had some momentum and we had 10 consecutive quality at bats in the bottom of the first to put a five spot on the board. The second thing I really liked was guys being ready when their number was called. Terrific job by Hart, Yu and Knight coming in ready to play. In a little over a week we enter a stretch of 10 games in 14 days and guys are going to be asked to step in at some point." – Head coach Chris Pollard on the executition in the first inning and overall thoughts on the game today.

UP NEXT

Duke and Northwestern conclude the three-game series on Sunday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.

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