Duke Swept by No. 18 Stanford Sunday

Sunday, March 16

Stanford, CA

4 p.m.

Duke University

12-9, 2-4

Stanford

15-3, 5-1

Duke

Stanford

Duke Swept by No. 18 Stanford Sunday

3/16/2025 10:50:00 PM | Baseball

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

STANFORD, Calif. – Duke baseball (12-9, 2-4 ACC) was swept by Stanford (15-3, 5-1 ACC) on Sunday afternoon, falling 10-5 in the series finale at Sunken Diamond.

The Blue Devils opened the scoring in the top of the first inning, as Tyler Albright beat out an infield single to score Ben Miller from third, before AJ Gracia tripled down the line in right to score a pair, 3-0. Duke continued to add to the scoring in the top of the second, as Jake Berger doubled down the line in right to score Ben Rounds from third, 4-0.

The Cardinal responded in the bottom of the third inning, scoring five runs, before adding another four spot in the bottom of the fourth. Senior Ryan Higgins started on the mound, working two innings and allowing two runs on one hit. He punched out three batters and did not factor into the decision.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke opened the scoring in the top of the first inning, as Tyler Albright beat out an infield single to score Ben Miller from third. AJ Gracia tripled to right field to score Albright and Jake Hyde, 3-0.
The Blue Devils added to their lead in the top of the second inning, as Jake Berger doubled down the line in right to score Ben Rounds from third, 4-0.
Stanford took the lead in the bottom of the third inning, 5-4.
In the top of the fourth inning, Wallace Clark doubled down the line in right to score Rounds from first, 5-5.
The Cardinal regained the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, 9-5.
Stanford added a run in the bottom of the seventh inning, 10-5.

NOTES

Freshman Jeff Lougee made his first collegiate start on Sunday at Stanford as the designated hitter. Lougee finished the day 0-for-3 with a sacrifice bunt.
The Blue Devils failed to hit a home run in the series against Stanford.
Three Duke players registered multiple hits on Sunday afternoon, as Ben Rounds (3), Tyler Albright (2), and AJ Gracia (2) notched that mark. It was Albright's eighth multi-hit day of the year, Rounds' sixth, and Gracia's second.
Graduate Ben Miller extended his hitting streak to four games, finishing the day 1-for-5 against the Cardinal.
Senior Wallace Clark extended his reached base streak to 21 games on Sunday, collecting an RBI double.
Sunday's sweep was the first against the Blue Devils since May 19-21, 2022, when Duke was swept on the final weekend of the season by Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va.

QUOTES

"I thought we had a great approach against Volchko, and we really sold out to it. Credit to them, they have a National Championship caliber team and they had an answer. We have to be able to not get on our heels, whether it's defensively, offensively, or on the mound, when a good team throws a punch. Once they battled their way back into it, I thought our at-bats got a little passive. We started to get late on the fastball again and get caught in between on our timing, instead of being sold out to whatever approach we were in. Stanford did a great job all weekend. When they committed to fastball, they were on time with it. That is a lesson we can learn from this weekend, when we get into a hitters count and are sold out on fastball, we shouldn't be late on it." – Head coach Chris Pollard on Sunday's defeat.
"Just getting on the road against such a good team, and this is a unique stadium to play in, will help us. It played so many different ways over the weekend. On Friday, it played really small at times. Saturday, it played really big. Today, it shifted throughout the ballgame. At times, it was really big, and sometimes, it wasn't. It's unique with all the foul territory, and you grow from being in this environment. When you go on the road, you learn to compete on the road, and that is a process we have to get better at." – On the unique set up that Sunken Diamond provides and how it played throughout the weekend.

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