Grading preseason All-American Jonathan Santucci’s 2024 debut on Opening Day

The Blue Devils presumed ace and preseason All-American threw five scoreless innings against Indiana on Friday, here’s our breakdown on his day.

Few athletes at Duke have the preseason expectations of southpaw Jonathan Santucci, a junior named to Baseball America’s preseason All-American Second Team.

The lefty has sported an ERA of 4.17 and 4.30, respectively, across his two seasons in Durham thus far. He struck out 108 batters across his 70.1 innings of collegiate baseball, and he earned a record of 4-5 across 14 starts and 27 appearances.

His first five innings of 2024 may not have been perfect, but they did more than their share of living up to the hype. He held Indiana scoreless, earning the individual win for his efforts as the Blue Devils opened the season with a 6-3 win over the Hoosiers.

Here’s a breakdown of the ins and outs of Santucci’s opening performance.

Indiana knots Penn State with help of 90-yard touchdown pass

Indiana rallied in the fourth quarter to tie Penn State

Penn State opened a 10-point lead over Indiana and appeared to be back in gear.

Not. So. Fast.

The Hoosiers came in 0-12 against Penn State on the road. They had not downed an AP Top 10 team on the road since 1987 when they upended Ohio State.

With a 24-14 deficit to overcome, things looked bleak.

One play shuffled the deck.

Brendan Sorsby connected with DeQuece Carter, who was off to the races on a 90-yard TD play.

Indiana fools Michigan on trick play for touchdown

A trick play worked out perfectly for Indiana

Indiana was up against it at Michigan on Saturday in Big Ten action.

The Hoosiers would have to do everything to be competitive, let alone win.

So, they went into the trickeration bag and came up with a touchdown.

Someone in Michigan’s secondary blew a coverage big time and Indiana’s trick play delivered a huge result.

Donovan McCulley took the backward pass and found a wide, wide open Jaylin Lucas.

The play was good for 44 yards and after the PAT the Hoosiers led 7-0.