Completed Event: Baseball versus Murray State on June 9, 2025 , Loss , 4, to, 5
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Final
Baseball
4
vs Murray State
5
Friday, February 28
Durham, N.C.
4 p.m.
Duke University
5-5
14
vs
5
Northwestern
5-3
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Northwestern
0
4
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
5
8
1
Duke
3
0
0
0
2
9
0
0
X
14
15
0
High Powered Offense Leads No. 17 Duke to Series Opening Win Over Northwestern
2/28/2025 8:53:00 PM | Baseball
DURHAM – No. 17 Duke (5-5) scored 11 runs over the fifth and sixth innings on Friday to defeat Northwestern (5-3), 14-5, in the series opener at Jack Coombs Field.
Sophomore Kyle Johnson earned his first win of the 2025 season, gutting out five innings on the mound. He scattered five hits and allowed four runs to score, punching out five Wildcats along the way to stabilize the game after the second inning.
In the bottom of the first inning, Duke's offense came alive as Ben Miller punched a sacrifice fly to right field to score Wallace Clark from third. Ben Rounds collected the first of three hits on the night, tripling to right center field, scoring a pair of Blue Devils, 3-0.
The Wildcats responded in the top of the second inning, producing four runs in the frame to take the lead, 4-3. Johnson settled in, tossing three scoreless frames to allow the Blue Devils' offense to find its footing.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Duke regained the lead as Rounds hit his first home run as a Blue Devil, a solo shot to center field, before Sam Harris doubled to the right center gap to plate Tyler Albright. The Duke offense wasn't done, sending 14 batters to the plate in the sixth inning and scoring nine runs to extend the lead to 14-4.
Duke's bullpen consisting of Ryan Calvert, Reid Easterly, Edward Hart, Mark Hindy, and Marcello Mastroiannicombined to toss four innings of three-hit baseball, allowing one runs and punched out seven batters down the stretch.
HOW IT HAPPENED
NOTES
QUOTES
UP NEXT
For more information on Duke Baseball, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching "DukeBASE".
#GoDuke
Sophomore Kyle Johnson earned his first win of the 2025 season, gutting out five innings on the mound. He scattered five hits and allowed four runs to score, punching out five Wildcats along the way to stabilize the game after the second inning.
In the bottom of the first inning, Duke's offense came alive as Ben Miller punched a sacrifice fly to right field to score Wallace Clark from third. Ben Rounds collected the first of three hits on the night, tripling to right center field, scoring a pair of Blue Devils, 3-0.
The Wildcats responded in the top of the second inning, producing four runs in the frame to take the lead, 4-3. Johnson settled in, tossing three scoreless frames to allow the Blue Devils' offense to find its footing.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Duke regained the lead as Rounds hit his first home run as a Blue Devil, a solo shot to center field, before Sam Harris doubled to the right center gap to plate Tyler Albright. The Duke offense wasn't done, sending 14 batters to the plate in the sixth inning and scoring nine runs to extend the lead to 14-4.
Duke's bullpen consisting of Ryan Calvert, Reid Easterly, Edward Hart, Mark Hindy, and Marcello Mastroiannicombined to toss four innings of three-hit baseball, allowing one runs and punched out seven batters down the stretch.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- In the bottom of the first inning, Ben Miller punched a sacrifice fly to right field to score Wallace Clark from third. Ben Rounds tripled to right center field, scoring a pair of Blue Devils, 3-0.
- Northwestern took the lead in the top of the second inning, 4-3.
- In the bottom of the fifth inning, Rounds hit a solo home run to center field. Sam Harris hit a double to right center field, scoring Tyler Albright from third, 5-4.
- In the bottom of the sixth inning, Miller hit a solo home run to left center field. Macon Winslow reached on a fielder's choice to score AJ Gracia from third. Albright laced a double to right center field, scoring Winslow from second. Clark drew a bases loaded walk to score Jake Hyde from third. Jake Berger singled to left field to score a pair before a wild pitch added another run. Duke added two more on bases loaded walks, 14-4.
- Northwestern added a run in the eighth, 14-5.
NOTES
- Graduate Ben Rounds led the charge offensively for the Blue Devils, driving in three runs and posting a 3-for-5 line. Rounds finished the day a double shy of the cycle, including blasting his first home run in a Duke uniform.
- Duke improved to 200-66 (.752) when scoring first and 221-49 (.819) when scoring three-plus runs in an inning since 2016.
- The Blue Devils batted around for the fourth time this season, sending 14 batters to the plate in the sixth inning. Duke also scored nine runs in the frame, marking the first time since last weekend against Cornell to accomplish that feat.
- The Blue Devils improved to 39-1 since 2023, when scoring 10-plus runs in a contest.
- Sophomore Kyle Johnson gutted out his first win of the season, working five innings on the bump and tossing a career-high 95 pitches. He allowed four runs on five hits and punched out five.
- Duke's bullpen of Ryan Calvert, Reid Easterly, Mark Hindy, and Marcello Mastroianni combined to cover the final four innings, allowing one run on three hits and striking out seven Wildcats.
- Graduate Ben Miller hit his team-leading fifth home run of the season, a solo home run to left center field. He and Rounds' home runs led off innings for the Blue Devils on Friday.
QUOTES
- "I thought we came out and had a really good offensive approach against Crawford Wade, and we put a crooked number in the first. Credit them, we should have been off the field in the second inning. It's no secret our issue has been when we don't make a play, it leads to a big inning and that happened in the second. Credit to Kyle Johnson, that is what a Friday night guy has to do is go out there and just pitch and put up zeros behind it. To go out there and put up three zeros behind it allowed us to get our feet back under us, and I thought we had an excellent approach there in the fifth and sixth innings to build some separation. We were able to get deep into their bullpen on Friday night, which is always a plus." – Head coach Chris Pollard on the approach throughout the game and rebounding after allowing a crooked number in the second.
UP NEXT
- Duke and Northwestern continue the three-game series on Saturday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
For more information on Duke Baseball, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching "DukeBASE".
#GoDuke
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Johnson, Kyle (1-2)
L: GRANT, ALEX (0-1)
Batting:
2B: KNOTT, PRESTON 1 ; COUNSELL, JACK 1
RBI: KNOTT, PRESTON 1 ; KUCHERAK, RYAN 1 ; LAUSCH, JACK 1 ; COUNSELL, JACK 2
Base Running:
RUNS: MARKINSON, BENNETT 1 ; MCELFATRICK, OWEN 1 ; LIOLIOS, TRENT 1 ; LAUSCH, JACK 1 ; COUNSELL, JACK 1
HBP: MARKINSON, BENNETT 1
PO: MILLS, GRIFFIN 1 ; LAUSCH, JACK 1
Batting:
2B: Berger, Jake 1 ; Albright, Tyler 2 ; Harris, Sam 1
3B: Rounds, Ben 1 ; Albright, Tyler 1
HR: Miller, Ben 1 ; Rounds, Ben 1
RBI: Clark, Wallace 1 ; Berger, Jake 2 ; Miller, Ben 2 ; Rounds, Ben 3 ; Winslow, Macon 2 ; Hyde, Jake 1 ; Albright, Tyler 1 ; Harris, Sam 1
SF: Miller, Ben 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Clark, Wallace 2 ; Berger, Jake 2 ; Miller, Ben 1 ; Gracia, AJ 3 ; Rounds, Ben 1 ; Winslow, Macon 1 ; Hyde, Jake 1 ; Albright, Tyler 2 ; Harris, Sam 1
HBP: Clark, Wallace 3 ; Miller, Ben 1 ; Rounds, Ben 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
6
R
2
H
3
RBI
2
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
3
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
1
AB
2
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
OF
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RHP
/ BaseballINF
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LHP
/ Baseball
1B/OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
OF/LHP
/ Baseball
LHP
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INF
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
C
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