No. 17 Duke Sweeps Northwestern Sunday

Sunday, March 2

Durham, N.C.

1 p.m.

Duke University

7-5

Northwestern

5-5

Northwestern

Duke

No. 17 Duke Sweeps Northwestern Sunday

3/2/2025 5:42:00 PM | Baseball

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

DURHAM – Fueled by a seven-run first inning, No. 17 Duke (7-5) completed the sweep of Northwestern (5-5) on Sunday afternoon at Jack Coombs Field, defeating the Wildcats, 11-2.

Junior James Tallon started the contest for the Blue Devils on Sunday, working two innings of two-hit ball and allowing just one run to cross in the first frame. Tallon punched out two batters, including escaping a bases loaded jam in the top of the first inning.

In the bottom of the first inning, Ben Miller catapulted the Blue Devils to the lead, hitting his team-leading seventh home run of the season, a three-run shot to right center field. Later in the frame, Jake Hyde hit a grand slam to push the scoreline to 7-1 after Duke had sent 12 batters to the plate.

Freshman Henry Zatkowski relieved Tallon in the third inning, working a career-high 2.2 innings on the mound and punching out a new career-best five. Zatkowski silenced the Wildcats' bats throughout his outing, allowing one hit and earning his first collegiate victory.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Duke created more traffic on the base paths and added to the lead as Wallace Clark reached on a perfectly executed drag bunt and advanced to second on an error, scoring Hyde from second. Miller collected his fourth RBI of the day, being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, before Kyle Johnson walked with the bases loaded. Graduate Ben Rounds beat out a double play to plate a third run, and Jake Berger scored on a wild pitch, extending the lead to 11-1.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Northwestern opened the scoring in the top of the first inning, 1-0.
Duke responded in the bottom of the first inning, as Ben Miller hit a three-run home run to right center field. Jake Hyde hit a grand slam to right field, 7-1.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Wallace Clark reached on a drag bunt and advanced to second on a throwing error by the pitcher to score Jake Hyde. Miller was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Kyle Johnson from third, 9-1. Ben Rounds grounded into a fielder's choice to score Clark from third. Jake Berger scored on a wild pitch, 11-1.
The Wildcats cut into the lead in the top of the eighth inning, 11-2.

NOTES

Graduate Ben Miller capped off his impressive week at the plate, finishing the day 2-for-4 with four RBI and his seventh home run of the season. Miller added his fourth multi-hit contest of the season and team-leading fifth multi-RBI day.
Duke batted around for the fifth and sixth times this season, scoring seven runs in the first inning against Northwestern, before adding four in the bottom of the seventh.
Duke improved to 222-49 (.819) when scoring three-plus runs in an inning since 2016.
The Blue Devils improved to 40-1 since 2023 when scoring 10-plus runs in a contest.
Freshman Henry Zatkowski secured his first career victory, working 2.2 innings on the mound (career-high), allowing one hit, no walks, and striking out a career-high five batters.
Graduate Jake Hyde collected his second multi-hit contest of the season, finishing the afternoon 2-for-5, with a single and a grand slam. It was Duke's second grand slam of the season, joining Kyle Johnson.

QUOTES

"I thought there were a lot of pluses and that there are a few things that we can take away and work on. I am really proud of our bullpen. It was a great job by our bullpen all weekend. Our at-bats got better as the weekend went along. They have a great club. Coach Greenspan is doing a great job over there. They are really well coached, and I thought they were a very good defensive team. They were the best defensive team we have played to this point, and they are going to win a lot of games this season. I thought we started to play more clean. We are starting to clean up some of the mistakes that led to big innings early. We are also starting to be more opportunistic at the plate but also taking the free offense when it is there." – Head coach Chris Pollard on finishing the sweep against Northwestern on Sunday.

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