No. 12 Duke Takes ACC Opener, 8-5, Over No. 1 Wake Forest

Friday, March 8

Winston-Salem, N.C.

6 p.m.

Duke University

12-1, 0

Wake Forest

11-2, 0

Duke

Wake Forest

No. 12 Duke Takes ACC Opener, 8-5, Over No. 1 Wake Forest

3/8/2024 11:15:00 PM | Baseball

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

DURHAM – For the first time since 2016, No. 12 Duke (12-1, 1-0 ACC) defeated a No. 1-rated team, downing No. 1 Wake Forest (11-2, 0-1 ACC) 8-5 on Friday night at David F. Couch Ballpark. Graduate Charlie Beilenson earned his sixth save of the season, working the final three innings on the mound.

Sophomore Owen Proksch earned the win in relief, working 1.1 innings of no-hit baseball.

Graduate transfer Ben Miller continued his hot-streak at the plate, finishing the day 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles to extend his hitting streak to 13 games. Freshman AJ Gracia and graduate Zac Morris tallied three home runs combined, as Gracia collected his second multi-home run game of the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Ben Miller scored in the top of the first on a wild pitch. AJ Gracia doubled off the wall in left to score Logan Bravo from second, 2-0.
Wake Forest tied the game in the bottom of the first, 2-2.
In the top of the third, Gracia singled up the middle to score Bravo from third. Wallace Clark singled through the left side to score Gracia from second, 4-2.
The Demon Deacons took the lead in the bottom of the third, 5-4.
Gracia hit a two-run home run to right center field, 6-5.
Zac Morris hit a solo home run to left field in the top of the fifth inning, 7-5.
Gracia hit a solo home run to right field in the top of the sixth inning, 8-5.

NOTES

Graduate transfer Ben Miller finished the day 4-for-5 with two doubles and one run scored. He opened the scoring on a wild pitch in the top of the first inning. He extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a double in the first inning.
Freshman AJ Gracia tallied his second multi-home run game of his career, blasting two home runs and finishing the day 4-for-5. Gracia drove in five runs for Duke and scored three times.
Graduate Zac Morris hit his seventh home run of the season, tying the team lead. His solo shot in the fifth inning gave Duke the lead for good.
Duke's victory over No. 1 Wake Forest was its first against a No. 1-rated team since 2016, when the Blue Devils defeated Miami, 12-5, on Saturday at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Graduate Charlie Beilenson worked three innings of two-hit baseball to record his sixth save of the season. Beilenson continues to lead the country in saves to this point in the year, going 6-for-6.
Sophomore Owen Proksch earned the win in relief, working 1.1 innings of no-hit baseball. He tallied one strikeout and used just 16 pitches.

QUOTES

"What a credit to Coach Walters and what he has built here. I have been coming to this ballpark since it was Ernie Shore Field as a player and as a coach and never had an atmosphere like we did tonight. It is a credit to Wake Forest and what they have built as a program. This was a big-time college baseball atmosphere on a Friday night and our guys had a lot of fun with it." – Head coach Chris Pollard on the atmosphere at David F. Couch Ballpark Friday.
"I looked over at one of our pitchers in the top of the third inning and said, "none of us had this on our bingo card". All the good swings against two really good arms. You talk about two of the best starting pitchers in all of college baseball and both teams got off a lot of really good swings. I give a lot of credit to our hitting coach Eric Tyler; he came in with a great gameplan and went opposite of what most teams have done against Hartle. We tried to get right up on the plate and take the cutter away from him and it really worked. Our guys were bought into it." – On the pitching matchup and the approach of the offense tonight.

UP NEXT

Duke and Wake Forest continue the three-game series on Saturday afternoon from David F. Couch Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.

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