Duke's Late Rally at No. 9 Clemson Falls Short

Friday, May 9

Clemson, SC

6 p.m.

Duke University

33-16, 14-11

Clemson

38-13, 15-10

Duke

Clemson

Duke's Late Rally at No. 9 Clemson Falls Short

5/9/2025 11:57:00 PM | Baseball

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

CLEMSON, S.C. – Trailing by four runs heading to the ninth inning, Duke baseball (33-16, 14-11 ACC) saw its ninth inning rally fall short on Friday evening, as No. 9 Clemson (38-13, 15-10 ACC) took game one of the series, 9-7.

The Blue Devils had the bases loaded with one out in the frame before grounding into a game-ending double play. Duke opened the scoring on Friday evening, as AJ Gracia crushed his ninth home run of the season to right field, before Tyler Albright singled up the middle to score Ben Miller from second, 2-0.

Junior southpaw Owen Proksch held the Tigers scoreless and limited the Clemson attack to one hit across the first three frames, before the Tigers were able to take the lead 6-2 in the bottom of the fourth.

Duke didn't go away quietly, as the Blue Devils cut into the Clemson lead in the top of the sixth inning when Gracia singled to center field to score a pair, 6-4. In the top of the seventh inning, Jake Hyde extended his hitting streak to 15 games, crushing a solo home run to right field, 6-5.

Clemson would tack on three runs in the bottom of the eighth, before Duke went to work in the ninth. Albright singled to third base on a slow roller to score Gracia from third, before Sam Harris drew a bases-loaded walk to score Hyde from third, 9-7. With the go-ahead runs on base, the Blue Devils grounded into a game-ending double play.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Duke opened the scoring in the top of the first inning, as AJ Gracia hit a solo home run to right field. Tyler Albright singled up the middle to score Ben Miller from second, 2-0.
Clemson took the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, 6-2.
The Blue Devils cut into the lead in the top of the sixth inning, as Gracia singled to center field to score a pair, 6-4.
In the top of the seventh inning, Jake Hyde hit a solo home run to right field, 6-5.
Clemson added a run in the bottom of the eighth inning, 9-5.
In the top of the ninth inning, Albright singled to third base to score Gracia from third. Sam Harris drew a bases-loaded walk to score Hyde from third, 9-7.

NOTES

Sophomore AJ Gracia paced the Blue Devils offensively on Friday evening, finishing the day 4-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBI. Gracia added his ninth home run of the season, a solo shot in the first inning to open the scoring. He now runs his hitting streak to nine games.
Graduate Jake Hyde extended his hitting streak in the seventh inning, crushing a solo shot to right field, his ninth of the season. Hyde has now pushed his hitting streak to a team-long 15 games. He completed the evening 2-for-4 with two runs scored.
Junior southpaw Owen Proksch suffered his second defeat of the season on Friday, working 3.1 innings on the mound, allowing six runs on four hits and striking out five batters.
Friday's series opening loss was the first for the Blue Devils since April 3rd when Duke fell to No. 19 North Carolina 4-3 in Chapel Hill.

QUOTES

"I thought it was a really competitive baseball game, and I thought we played exceptionally well. Credit to Clemson, in the fourth and eighth they just sold out to take away our best pitch. In the fourth, they took away Owen Proksch's slider, and in the eighth, they took away Reid Easterly's cutter. They had some good contact on our best pitch. Credit to them for making the adjustment. When they weren't able to do that in the other innings, we were really good. I love our answer. I loved how, when we got down 6-2 that we were able to fight our way back into the ballgame. Our offensive approach was good all night. In a lot of ways, I thought we outplayed them. They came up with a couple of big swings in big spots. The three-run double on a really good executed pitch by Hindy was big, and then the two runs after we got to two outs were big. If we get off the field right there, that ballgame probably plays out a little differently." – Head coach Chris Pollard on his overall thoughts on tonight's game.
"I wasn't even sure when they got up by four runs if they would even bring Mahlstead into the game. We did a good job of having some great at-bats against him and got him up near 30 pitches in the inning. If they don't pick that ball at first base, the game is tied. We can say, well, we hit into a double play, but if their first basemen doesn't make a great pick, both those runs score, and it's a tied ballgame. It was a ballgame that came down to the last play, and you expect that in this series. Now we have to get up off the mat and compete tomorrow." – On getting to their bullpen and forcing them to use their closer.

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