Six Hitless Innings Leads Duke to Victory on Tuesday

Tuesday, March 11

Durham, N.C.

3 p.m.

Duke University

11-6

George Mason

11-5

George Mason

Duke

Six Hitless Innings Leads Duke to Victory on Tuesday

3/11/2025 6:30:00 PM | Baseball

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

DURHAM – Duke's bullpen (11-6) retired the final 19 batters of the contest on Tuesday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field to defeat George Mason (11-5), 6-3.

AJ Gracia opened the scoring for the Blue Devils on Tuesday, hitting a sacrifice fly to left field to score Wallace Clark, before Tyler Albright singled to right center field to score Jake Berger from third. Ben Miller scored on a rundown in the first, as Duke plated three runs to open the ballgame, 3-0.

The Blue Devils didn't stop there, adding two more runs in the bottom of the second, as Berger singled up the middle to extend the lead to 5-0. In the top of the third inning, George Mason responded, hitting a two-run home run and scoring on a passed ball, 5-3.

Duke's bullpen once again rose to the occasion, retiring the final 19 batters of the contest as Max Stammel, Gabe Nard, and Reid Easterly covered the final six innings. Throughout those six innings, the trio allowed no hits and struck out six batters. Easterly collected his first save as a Blue Devil, while junior Aidan Weaver improved to 2-0 on the mound in his first start of 2025.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning, as AJ Gracia punched a sacrifice fly to left field to score Wallace Clark. Tyler Albright singled to right center field to score Jake Berger from third. Albright was caught stealing, allowing Ben Miller to score from third, 3-0.
In the bottom of the second, Berger singled through the middle to score a pair of Blue Devils, 5-0.
George Mason cut into the deficit, scoring three runs in the inning, 5-3.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Albright slashed a single through the right side to score Berger from second, 6-3.

NOTES

Duke improved to 204-66 (.756) when scoring first and 224-49 (.821) when scoring three-plus runs in an inning since 2016.
Senior Wallace Clark extended his hitting streak to 10 games on Tuesday, the longest on the team. Clark also added two hit-by-pitches to move into a tie for eighth all-time in a career with 32 in a Duke uniform. He joins Max Miller (2015-18) and Michael Fletcher (1995-98). The Tulsa, Okla., native also has reached base safely in all 17 games.
Junior Aidan Weaver made his first start of the 2025 season and sixth overall as a Blue Devil. Weaver earned the win, improving to 2-0 on the season, working three innings of two-hit baseball and allowing three unearned runs.
Junior Tyler Albright collected his team-leading seventh multi-hit contest on Tuesday, registering a 3-for-4 day with two RBI.
Graduate Reid Easterly picked up his first save as a Blue Devil, and the sixth of his career, on Tuesday. The lefty tossed two hitless innings and struck out a pair to close the game.
The Blue Devils retired the final 19 batters of the contest to shut down an explosive offense on Tuesday and earn the victory.
Freshman Max Stammel and junior Gabe Nard gave Duke four hitless innings in relief before passing the ball off to Easterly. Stammel and Nard each struck out a pair, as all four Blue Devils' pitchers punched out two batters.

QUOTES

"I thought we pitched exceptionally well. We are one play away from getting off the field there with a shutout. I told Aidan Weaver, give us your best inning, and we'll figure it out from there. I said two at the most. We sent him back out there for the third, and he did a good job of getting himself off the field. I thought Max Stammel was really good. Gabe Nard and Reid Easterly kept doing what they had been doing. I thought our ability to own the box and take advantage of the HBP and turn that into offense was huge." – Head coach Chris Pollard on securing game one this week.
"Huge. Huge. We wanted to get through that game with four or five guys at the most and not put any of those guys in a position where they extended past being ready to go this weekend. The cool thing was, the last three were so efficient that they are live Friday night." – On how the bullpen covered the game efficiently with five to play this week.