Tag: Kyle Johnson

Three quick takeaways from Duke’s monumental series win over No. 1 Wake Forest

Three takeaways for Duke’s monumental series win over No. 1 Wake Forest.

While it was a tough weekend in Durham for the men’s basketball team as they lost to the North Carolina Tar Heels for the second time this season, another Duke team was making history elsewhere in North Carolina.

Chris Pollard’s team traveled to Winston-Salem for their first ACC matchup. They took on the nation’s No. 1 team, the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. Not only did Duke compete, they won the series two games to one.

The Duke Blue Devils baseball team clinched a series win over a top-ranked team for the first time in 15 years, last occurring when Duke took down a No. 1-ranked North Carolina team.

Friday, Duke won behind an eight-run offensive explosion that saw the Blue Devils touch up one of college baseball’s best pitchers, Josh Hartle. The Blue Devils took that game 8-5.

On Saturday, Tennessee transfer Chase Burns dominated the Blue Devils, striking out 14 Duke batters in 6 innings. Wake went on to even the series after a 6-3 Saturday victory.

Duke clinched the series in the tie-breaking Sunday game behind a six-run fifth inning, which featured two hits and five walks as the Blue Devils extended their lead to 9-2. Wake would fight back, but a late insurance run in the ninth followed by a save from Charlier Beilenson sealed the 10-8 victory.

With the series over, we have three quick takeaways as Duke has become the talk of the college baseball world with the most significant series win of the young season.

This Duke team is dynamic offensively

One of the most significant developments of the season so far is that Duke’s offense is verifiably legit. The pitching was more proven with the caliber of arms the Blue Devils brought back. Still, with Duke losing as many position players as it did, many felt there would be questions about run production and replacing an entire infield.

They’ve gotten contributions from every direction, including freshman AJ Gracia batting over .340 with an OPS of 1.214. Their new-look infield, with four new players spearheaded by Penn transfer Ben Miller, is batting above .290 while combining for 19 homers and 54 RBI. They lit up Hartle, a top-100 pick in this upcoming MLB draft, and on Sunday, they showcased their plate discipline (14 walks) and worked counts as Wake unraveled on the mound.

We’ve seen the Blue Devils put up 20+ runs multiple times this season. It’s safe to say the new look lineup is just fine, and they can do it against elite competition.

Kyle Johnson is starting to carve out a role

The uber-talented two-way freshman Kyle Johnson is finding himself a lane as a bulk innings guy who may just get stretched out to start in some capacity. In the most significant start of his young career, he tossed four innings of two-run ball on Sunday against a potent Wake Forest lineup on the road. He allowed three hits, but he did more than his job as he was competitive and kept Duke in the ball game, ultimately giving his offense time to break the game open in the fifth inning.

He also tossed 65 pitches. If this becomes a thing, the first-year Blue Devil could be stretched out to 80 pitches by mid-April, giving Pollard another pitching weapon to add to his deep arsenal.

Charlie Beilenson is indispensable

Where would Duke be without Charlie Beilenson this season?

Who knows, but his contributions have been immeasurable. When a fire needs to be put out, or he needs to close a ball game, no one is doing it better than Beilenson. He proved that this weekend against the nation’s best as he had not one but two saves to close both Duke wins. He showcased his versatility, too, as he pitched three scoreless innings for the save on Friday. He followed that up with one inning of work on Sunday to preserve a two-run lead and nail down his seventh save of the season.

Duke returns to the friendly confines of Jack Coombs Field this week as they open a six-game homestand with two midweek contests with Rider. The first pitch on Tuesday is scheduled for 4 p.m.

Duke baseball completes Northwestern sweep behind late offensive surge

The Blue Devils scored 14 runs in the fifth and sixth innings en route to a 20-run win over the Wildcats on Sunday.

The Duke Blue Devils remained undefeated for the 2024 season with a Sunday win over Northwestern, a dominant 20-9 offensive display powered by 14 runs between the fifth and sixth innings.

Freshman Kyle Johnson continued a remarkable freshman season with three scoreless innings on the mound. The Wildcats took an early lead with a two-run shot in the bottom of the first, and Duke clung to a 4-3 lead when Johnson took over on the mound.

The first-year prospect struck out the first two batters he faced and surrendered just one hit in his three innings on the hill. He ended the afternoon with five strikeouts despite facing just 10 batters, and the Virginia native has yet to give up an earned run in eight innings pitched.

The sterling outing on the mound came just one day after he notched his first RBI of the season, a triple into the right-field corner against Northwestern yesterday. He’s batting .286 with two extra-base hits through Duke’s first seven games of the year.

Johnson halting the Northwestern charge gave Duke’s offense enough time to wake up, and wake up it did. The Blue Devils scored four runs in the bottom of the second, three of them on a bases-loaded single from Ben Miller compounded by a fielding error.  In the following inning, freshman designated hitter Macon Winslow launched his first collegiate home run to left-center to increase the lead to three runs.

Duke really broke the game open in the fifth. A single and two walks in the first three at-bats gave the Blue Devils loaded bases with no outs, a situation nearly impossible to escape from given Duke’s offensive form of late.

A walk on Wallace Clark provided the inning’s first run before Zac Morris singled two more home. Catcher Alex Stone then whacked one out of the ballpark for three more runs, and the offensive track meet was on.

Centerfielder Devin Obee did his share of damage in the fifth and sixth innings, too. He stepped to the plate with two outs and reeled in Duke’s last two runs of the fifth with a two-run double. One inning later (because Duke had already batted around the order by then), he laced a single with the bases loaded for his third RBI of the game.

After one last single and a wild pitch, Duke ended the sixth inning with a 20-3 lead, and Northwestern’s hopes of stealing a game in the series had pretty much evaporated. The Wildcats put up an admirable fight, scoring six more runs in the top of the ninth, but the Blue Devils got their third out well before the game got within reach.

Now 7-0 on the young season, Duke takes the home diamond again on Tuesday against Davidson.

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.