Duke Rolls Past N.C. Central 12-1

Wednesday, February 25

Durham, N.C. (Jack Coombs Field)

3:00 PM

Duke University

N.C. Central

Leading Off with Duke Baseball: Andy Perez

Duke Rolls Past N.C. Central 12-1

2/25/2015 7:45:00 PM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – Duke scored at least one run in each of the first seven innings en route to a 12-1 victory over N.C. Central Wednesday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field. The Blue Devils churned out a season-high 15 hits in their first midweek game of the season.

Freshman Jack Labosky led the Blue Devils with a 4-for-5 performance, raising his team-leading batting average to .440 through the first seven games. Senior Andy Perez belted a pair of doubles and contributed three RBI and two runs scored. Freshman Justin Bellinger and junior Kenny Koplove also added two hits apiece.

After N.C. Central (1-5) scored a run in the top of the first, Duke (6-1) received outstanding efforts out of the bullpen to limit the Eagles the rest of the way. The Blue Devil pitching staff combined to allow just four hits while striking out 12 batters.

Redshirt junior Conner Stevens (1-0) picked up the win after tossing two hitless innings in relief. Stevens struck out three and did not permit a baserunner. Two Blue Devil freshmen – Luke Whitten and Ryan Day – also made their career debuts on the mound, combining for two scoreless innings with two strikeouts.

“I'm incredibly proud of our bullpen effort,” said head coach Chris Pollard. “I'm especially proud of our seniors: Dillon Haviland, Sarkis Ohanian and Conner Stevens. Those guys didn't pitch over the weekend and they came in and were ready today. That showed a ton of leadership. The other thing that impressed me was the guys who hadn't pitched yet in Luke Whitten and Ryan Day. They really attacked the strike zone. Those guys are going to back out there soon.”

NCCU's Eric Kimber scored the game's opening run in the top of the first. Kimber laced a base hit to left, one of his two hits on the day, took second on a sacrifice bunt and stole third. He would cross home plate on a wild pitch, scoring the Eagles' lone run of the contest.

Duke tied the game in the bottom half on Jalen Phillips' RBI single and took the lead for good in the bottom of the second. Senior Mike Rosenfeld led off the inning with a walk and came home on a Perez sacrifice fly.

Koplove broke the game open in the third with a two-out, bases-clearing double that extended the margin to a comfortable 5-1.

“I thought that we had a bunch of great at bats,” added Pollard. “Kenny had a huge at bat with the three-run double. That was a huge moment because that's an either-way ballgame at that point and that made a huge difference, a dagger there with two outs.”

Duke's offense continued to roll as the Blue Devils scored two runs in each of the next three frames and added a final tally in the bottom of the seventh. Freshmen Michael Smiciklas and Johnathan Lloyd each recorded their first career hit in the seventh.

Kimber suffered the loss after giving up five runs, all earned, on six hits over 2.1 innings of work. The N.C. Central starter also struck out two and walked three.

Duke returns to action this weekend, hosting Rider in a three-game, non-conference series Friday-Sunday at Jack Coombs Field.

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