Blue Devils Fall to Yellow Jackets in Series Finale

Sunday, March 15

Durham, N.C. (Jack Coombs Field)

1:00 PM

Duke University

Georgia Tech

Blue Devils Fall to Yellow Jackets in Series Finale

3/15/2015 5:14:00 PM | Baseball

By: Duke Sports Information

DURHAM, N.C. – The Yellow Jackets' Brandon Gold and Zac Ryan combined to shut out the Blue Devils and Georgia Tech topped Duke, 4-0, in the series finale Sunday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field.

Duke (14-5, 2-4 ACC) failed to score a run for the first time this season, totaling three hits and three walks for the game. Georgia Tech (14-5, 4-2 ACC) plated a pair of runs in both the fourth and the eighth to secure the victory.

Gold (3-0) extended his scoreless inning streak to 22-consecutive frames, limiting the Blue Devils to two hits and two walks over seven innings Sunday. Gold also struck out a career-high nine batters and dropped his season ERA to 0.61.

Ryan took the mound in the eighth and allowed just one hit and one walk over the final two innings to complete the shutout.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” said head coach Chris Pollard. “I credit the job that Georgia Tech did. We can learn a lot from them. I was impressed all weekend with the job they did in two-strike counts. They hit a lot of backside, groundball contact with two strikes, which is a good two-strike approach we need to learn from.”

Justin Bellinger, Max Miller and Kenny Koplove each singled to account for Duke's hit production. Senior Mike Rosenfeld drew a pair of walks in the contest, extending his on base streak to a team-best eight games.

Sophomore Bailey Clark (2-1) took the loss, the first of his career. Clark faced the minimum over the first three innings before encountering trouble in a two-run Georgia Tech fourth. The right-hander exited after five complete innings, allowing two runs on three hits. Clark struck out six batters but issued a career-high four walks.

“I thought Bailey competed well and his stuff was good,” Pollard said. “He was dialed in early. He got a lot of groundball outs. Got out of the zone in the fourth, but I thought he did a decent job of minimizing it. I don't think we pitched poorly.”

Leadoff walks in the top of the fourth proved costly as both Yellow Jackets came around to score. Kel Johnson singled to load the bases and Matt Gonzalez elicited the third walk of the frame to plate the game's first run. Thomas Smith added a sacrifice fly to right field, giving Georgia Tech a 2-0 advantage before Clark was able to work out of the jam with a strikeout.

Georgia Tech mounted a two-out rally in the eighth to put a pair of insurance runs on the board. Duke reliever Sarkis Ohanian induced a pair of groundouts, but the Yellow Jackets came up with four-straight, two-out singles. Johnson and A.J. Murray added an RBI base knock each, scoring Daniel Spingola and Keenan Innis, respectively.

Duke heads to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park for five games this coming week. The Blue Devils host Columbia Tuesday and Wednesday before welcoming Pitt Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

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