Proksch Deals, Miller and Duke Extend Winning Streak to Six

Friday, March 28

Durham, N.C.

8 p.m.

Duke University

18-9, 6-4

NC State

17-9, 4-3

NC State

Duke

Proksch Deals, Miller and Duke Extend Winning Streak to Six

3/28/2025 11:52:00 PM | Baseball

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

DURHAM, N.C. – Junior left-hander Owen Proksch had a career day on the mound for the Blue Devils, tossing a career-high five innings and tying a career-best with six strikeouts, as Duke (18-9, 6-4 ACC) defeated NC State (17-9, 4-3 ACC), 5-1 on Friday evening at Jack Coombs Field.

Proksch was efficient on the mound, tossing just 76 pitches and earning his first season victory to improve to 1-0. The Blue Devils struck first in the bottom of the first inning, as Ben Miller hit a solo home run to left field, a no-doubter for his 12th of the season, 1-0.

Duke added to the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Miller hit his second of the ballgame and 13th of the season, a solo shot to right field. With his two home runs on Friday, the ACC's leader in that category is now tied for ninth all-time on Duke's career home run tally, posting his 28th in Durham. The Durham, N.C., native joins Ed Conrey (1997-99) and Sean McNally (1991-94) in that spot.

The Blue Devils continued to stretch the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Wallace Clark flared a single to left field to score AJ Gracia and Ben Rounds, 4-0, before NC State erased the shutout in the top of the ninth, 5-1.

Graduate Reid Easterly covered three innings in relief of Proksch, allowing one hit and striking out one batter. Junior Gabe Nard closed out the ballgame for the Blue Devils, tossing the ninth inning to secure the victory.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke opened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning, as Ben Miller hit a solo home run to left field, 1-0.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Miller hit a solo home run to right field, 2-0.
The Blue Devils added to the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Wallace Clark singled to left field and was thrown out trying to advance to second, scoring AJ Gracia and Ben Rounds, 4-0.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Jake Hyde reached on a bunt single to score Clark from third, 5-0.
NC State broke the shutout in the top of the ninth, 5-1.

NOTES

Graduate Ben Miller hit his 12th and 13th home runs of the season, finishing the day 3-for-3. His two-home run game marked the first time a Blue Devil had had multiple home runs in a contest since himself when he hit two home runs in the ACC Championship game against Florida State. His multi-hit effort was his team-leading 12th of the season and extended his hitting streak to 10 games, tied for the longest on the team.
Junior left-hander Owen Proksch collected his first victory on the mound, in his second career start. Proksch recorded a career-high five-inning outing and tied his career-high in strikeouts with six. The southpaw was efficient on the bump, tossing 76 pitches on Friday night, the most of his career in an outing.
Junior Tyler Albright and graduate Jake Berger both extended their hitting streaks on Friday, as Albright pushed his to nine games, while Berger extended to seven.
Senior captain Wallace Clark extended his reached base safely streak to 27 games, recording a hit and a walk on Friday against the Wolfpack.
Duke improved to 210-68 (.755) when scoring first since 2016.

QUOTES

"He [Ben Miller] played an unbelievable game defensively. He hits a ball out to left and hits a ball out to right. The walk in the third at-bat, I can't say enough about how he plays the game." – Head coach Chris Pollard on Ben Miller's poise on the field.
"I thought Owen Proksch in his second-ever start was great. To give us five clean innings, we would have been happy with three clean. He had never thrown more than 50 pitches in an outing until last weekend at UVA. He is a really good competitor, and it wasn't his cleanest performance, but he is gutty, and his stuff is hard to hit. It was a clean win. I thought we were good defensively behind our guys, and we were clutch in our situational opportunities at the plate." – On the job of Owen Proksch moving to the Friday night role and the squad coming together.