Pollard Ties Coombs, No. 17 Duke Battles Past UNCW

Tuesday, February 18

Durham, N.C.

4 p.m.

Duke University

2-2

UNC Wilmington

2-3

UNCW

Duke

Pollard Ties Coombs, No. 17 Duke Battles Past UNCW

2/18/2025 8:42:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Postgame Notes (PDF)

DURHAM – With his 381st career victory in a Blue Devils uniform, head coach Chris Pollard has now tied former Duke head coach Jack Coombs on Duke's all-time wins list, defeating UNCW (2-3) 8-4 on Tuesday afternoon.

No. 17 Duke (2-2) fought through adversity to begin the contest, trailing 2-0 after the first four frames. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Jake Berger doubled down the line in right, scoring Ben Rounds from second, before Macon Winslow was thrown out at the plate trying to tie the game, 2-1.

An inning later, Duke took the lead for good as Kyle Johnson hit a two-run home run to left center field. Two batters later, Ben Miller joined in the home run parade, hitting a two-run shot to left center field, giving Duke a 5-2 advantage. The Blue Devils added a run in the seventh and a pair of bases loaded walks in the eighth to extend their lead to 8-4.

Junior left-hander Andrew Healy started on Tuesday, working two innings and striking out two batters. He scattered three hits and allowed one run to score. Fellow junior Edward Hart limited some traffic in the third inning, escaping a jam to keep the Blue Devils down a pair.

UNCW transfer Ryan Calvert appeared in his second game this season, working two innings and allowing just one hit, as he claimed victory as the pitcher of record against his former squad. Calvert improves to 1-0 on the season. Graduate Reid Easterly capped off the evening, allowing three hits in his two innings of work while punching out six Seahawks down the stretch.

HOW IT HAPPENED

UNCW opened the scoring in the top of the first inning, 1-0.
The Seahawks added to their lead in the top of the fourth inning, 2-0.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Jake Berger doubled down the line in right, scoring Ben Rounds from second, before Macon Winslow was gunned down at the plate, 2-1.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Kyle Johnson hit a two-run home run to left center field. Ben Miller hit a two-run home run to left center field, 5-2.
The Blue Devils added to their lead in the bottom of the seventh, as Tyler Albright stole third and scored on an errant throw by the catcher, 6-2.
UNCW responded with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth inning, 6-4.
Duke continued to put the pressure on as Winslow walked with the bases loaded to score Rounds from third. Berger drew a bases loaded walk to score Miller from third, 8-4.

NOTES

On Tuesday, head coach Chris Pollard tied legendary head coach Jack Coombs for the most wins in a Blue Devils uniform, bringing his Duke career tally to 381 wins.
Graduate Ben Miller finished the day 2-for-5 with two runs scored and a two-run home run. The long ball was his second of the season, tying Tyler Albright and Kyle Johnson for the team lead.
Junior Tyler Albright extended his hitting streak to four games on Tuesday, finishing the evening 1-for-3 with a run scored and a hit-by-pitch.
Sophomore Kyle Johnson appeared in the field for the second time this season, hitting his second home run of the 2025 campaign. His two-run shot gave Duke the lead in the sixth inning.
Junior Andrew Healy started on the mound for the Blue Devils, working two innings and allowing one run on three hits.
Graduate Reid Easterly closed down the ballgame for the Blue Devils, working the final two innings and striking out six batters. He scattered three hits, allowing one unearned run to score.
UNCW transfer Ryan Calvert worked two clean innings in relief on Tuesday against his former squad, allowing one hit and punching out one batter. He improves to 1-0 on the season, with his first victory in a Blue Devils uniform.

QUOTES

"I challenged our guys in our pregame meeting to do a good job of staying in the moment, but if they got out of the moment, fight to get back into the moment. I thought we did that really well tonight. We are a long way away from playing our best baseball. We have plenty of things that we can do better and will do better, but I did think we did a good job of when things didn't go well tonight of staying in the moment and continuing to compete and be tough. The two shutdown innings by Ryan Calvert after we scored were really important to maintain momentum. Reid Easterly did a good job there in the eighth. You have a 50mph infield base hit and then got ahead of ourselves trying to turn the double play and he stayed in the moment and executed pitches, it was mature." – Head coach Chris Pollard on the fight and toughness from the group tonight.

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