Tag: Andrew Healy

Duke baseball blows past Northwestern after five-run first inning on Saturday

The Blue Devils blew past Northwestern for a series-clinching win on Saturday afternoon after a five-run first inning.

Duke baseball won its sixth straight game to open the 2024 season and its second straight game over Northwestern, clinching the weekend series with an 8-2 win on Saturday night.

The Wildcats put a run on the board in the opening inning, working Duke starter Andrew Healy for a double and a single before the third out was recorded.

The Blue Devils responded with a five-run opening inning of their own.

Second baseman Zac Morris singled to center field to lead the inning off, then he stole second base to put himself in scoring position. When Ben Miller laced a base hit into the outfield just a few pitches later, Morris made his way around for Duke’s first run.

After another single from Alex Stone and watching Logan Bravo get hit by a pitch, freshman AJ Gracia brought in another run with a sacrifice fly. Centerfielder Devin Obee chased Northwestern starter Matt McClure from the mound with a one-run single in the next at-bat to give Duke a 3-0 lead.

McClure only recorded one out on the mound, surrendering four hits and earning all five of Duke’s first-inning runs.

After another sacrifice fly from catcher Macon Winslow, freshman Kyle Johnson added the final run of the first when he somehow threaded the first-base foul line to send a ball into the right-field corner. He ended up on third base with a triple, bringing Obee around to score.

The first-year Blue Devil is off to a scorching start in his Duke career, with the extra-base hit bringing home his first RBI of the season on top of five innings without an earned run on the mound.

Winslow kept his momentum in his second at-bat when he blasted a line driver over the left fielder’s head for an RBI double.

The Duke catcher ended the day with two hits and two RBIs on three at-bats, his first two runs batted in so far this season.

Shortstop Wallace Clark added one of the last exclamation points of the day at the plate, launching a solo moonshot off the right-field scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth to stretch the lead to six runs.

Healy also settled in on the mound after the opening inning, allowing just two more hits over the next three innings and ending his afternoon with three strikeouts. The Blue Devils turned to four different relievers in the final five innings, and the quartet only surrendered three hits and a walk the rest of the way.

The series may already be clinched, but Duke gets the chance to try for the series sweep over the Wildcats on Sunday at noon.

No. 12 Duke kicks off 2024 campaign with 6-3 win over Indiana behind Santucci, transfer Logan Bravo

No.12 Duke baseball kicked off 2024 campaign with a 6-3 win over Indiana.

Friday started what head baseball coach Chris Pollard hopes to be a historic season for the Duke Blue Devils baseball team.

No. 12 Duke got their 2024 campaign started as they hope that this year is the year they break down the door and punch their ticket to Omaha, Nebraska, and the College World Series.

Duke started its campaign with a win over the Indiana Hoosiers of the Big 10. Preseason second-team All-American Jonathan Santucci has been tabbed as the ace of Duke’s staff, so it was only fitting the junior was given the ball in the season’s first game. His first inning was rocky as he allowed a walk and a hit but fought back to strike out three Hoosiers to get out of the gym.

Braden Risedorph started for Indiana and held the Blue Devils in check for four innings before the top of the fifth rolled around, and the Blue Devils scratched across their first run of the season. True freshman Kyle Johnson doubled with two outs and was knocked in on an RBI double from Oklahoma transfer Wallace Clark. Indiana would bring in Ryan Kraft, and he’d close the door on the Blue Devils in the fifth.

Santucci would give Duke one more scoreless inning before his day was over. He threw 86 pitches in his 2024 debut and struck out seven batters while walking two and allowing zero runs on four singles.

Back-to-back home runs by catcher and captain Alex Stone and Harvard transfer Logan Bravo stretched Duke’s lead to 3-0 in the top half of the sixth before Indiana answered with two runs courtesy of shortstop Tyler Cerny, who took Duke reliever Owen Proksch deep.

Duke responded with two more runs at the top of the seventh, thanks again to the combination of Stone and Bravo. Stone hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Wallace Clark. Bravo would come behind him and rip a single down the left-field line to score Zac Morris and make it 5-2 Duke.

Indiana pushed back on Duke again with a home run by center fielder Carter Mathison in the bottom of the seventh against Proksch before Pollard went to his bullpen to call on 2024 stopper-of-the-year nominee Charlie Beilinson to get Duke out of a two-on-and-one-out jam with the game at 5-3. Beilinson would do just that: strike out the two batters to end the Hoosiers’ threat and send the game to the 8th inning.

North Carolina native and sophomore outfielder Tyler Albright hit a hanging breaking ball deep to left field to give Duke a 6-3 lead in the top half of the eighth, and Beilinson would shut the door in the eight and ninth to end his day and secure the win for the Blue Devils.

Logan Bravo led the way with a 3/5 one-home run and two RBIs. Alex Stone had two RBIs as well. In total, Duke amassed ten hits and had zero errors defensively.

The Blue Devils will rest up and prepare for a Saturday matinee affair with the George Mason Patriots tomorrow with lefty Andrew Healy on the bump.

Duke baseball looking to clear final hurdle and get to Omaha as 2024 season is set to start Friday

Duke baseball gets set to open their 2024 season. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the Blue Devils’ season opener.

1961. 1961 was the last time a Duke Blue Devils baseball team made the College World Series.

Last year was about showing up every doubter of the Duke baseball program as the team broke every preseason expectation of them en route to a 39-24 record, coming up just one win short of a trip to Omaha, Nebraska.

Head coach Chris Pollard retooled the Duke roster in hopes of clearing that final hurdle and leading his program to heights not reached in over 50 years.

Duke will start the season ranked as the No. 12 team in the country. In short, they will not be sneaking up on anyone this year. And that presents one of many challenges the Blue Devils will face this year: going from solely the hunters to being hunted while still hunting the class of the ACC, Wake Forest, Clemson, and Virginia as they too pursue a trip to Omaha.

The question now is: How does Duke live up to and exceed last year’s results?

It starts with their pitching. Duke’s pitching staff last year was unconventional but highly effective. At season’s end, they had the 18th-best ERA in the country. They’ll need to keep Duke in games as the bevy of transfers and new faces in the lineup, especially around the infield, begin to gel.

The staff’s ace is preseason second-team All-American Jonathan Santucci, a lefty with big strikeout stuff. James Tallon, Fran Oschell, and Andrew Healy are talented pitchers who received preseason award buzz. With that core four of pitching along with reliever Charlie Beilenson, Duke should remain competitive in many games.

They also should get a boost from two-way true freshman Kyle Johnson, who is expected to start in the outfield while contributing a solid number of innings on the mound for the Blue Devils.

Johnson was among the 50 best high school prospects per Perfect Game and was named the number one impact freshman in the ACC during the fall by D1Baseball. Expectations are high, but many around the Duke program believe they are warranted.

Duke’s season will depend on health and how long their revamped infield takes to gel. The Blue Devils lost every infielder from last year’s team that made it to Super Regionals. Some hit the transfer portal, and others were drafted in the MLB Draft last June.

Ben Miller (Penn), Logan Bravo (Harvard), Ben Weaver (Wheaton), and Wallace Clark (Oklahoma) are just a few of the names that transferred in with significant opportunities to start in Duke’s infield. They all have over 50 games of starting experience, so they are far from inexperienced. They’ll need to hit the ground running and quickly find their stride at the plate. As soon as Duke’s nonconference schedule ends, they’ll jump right into conference play, where the ACC is home to five other top-20 teams, and Duke will open ACC play by taking on four of them to start.

As the Blue Devils ready themselves for a weekend slate of games in the Baseball at the Beach tournament hosted by No. 18 Coastal Carolina, they do so knowing that this season won’t be easy. They open up this weekend with Indiana, George Mason, and Coastal Carolina.

The possibilities for this team can be sky-high, but things could get scary if their pitching, health, and offense don’t gel in unison. Nonetheless, this team is talented enough to get to Omaha. Will they?

We’re about to find out.