Duke beats ECU in top-10 clash

In a mid-week top-10 clash, Duke picked up what could turn out to be a nice and not-so-little win at East Carolina.

The Blue Devils got three solo home runs in the first four innings and seven pitchers combined for a four-hitter in a 5-2 win at ECU on Tuesday night at Clark-LeClaire Stadium.

Ben Miller hit a homer as the second batter of the game, supplying the early lead. Duke (33-14) added another run in the first inning when Logan Bravo reached on an error and AJ Gracia scored from third base.

Kyle Johnson and Zac Morris hit back-to-back solo homers with two outs in the fourth to make it a 4-0 Blue Devils lead. They loaded the bases after that but couldn’t push across any more insurance.

Of Duke’s seven-man pitching effort, the only one to face double-digit batters was the last pitcher, Charlie Beilenson, earning his 10th save of the season.

Andrew Healy started and retired five of the six batters he faced. Ryan Higgins (2-1) then retired all four of the batters he faced. Fran Oschell III pitched a scoreless fourth inning.

David Boisvert gave up a run in the fifth and only recorded one out. James Tallon pitched 1 2/3 innings, and then Gabriel Nard got one out.

That led to Beilenson, who picked up his sixth multi-inning save of the season. He allowed a run in the ninth after a leadoff double, which was the first run he’s allowed since a March 30 game against Virginia (a span of 23 1/3 innings).

Duke tacked on an unearned run in the top of the ninth that made it 5-1; Wallace Clark drove in that run with a double.

Duke is ranked No. 9 in D1Baseball’s top-25 poll this week; ECU is ranked No. 6.