Duke puts up four touchdowns on App State
Duke’s baseball team rolls up gaudy offensive total in final mid-week test before ACC play starts
Duke had a big first inning and then had a fifth inning that dwarfed it in its final mid-week baseball game before ACC play begins this weekend.
The Blue Devils had a six-run first and 16-run fifth in a 28-2 win over Appalachian State on Tuesday at Jack Coombs Field.
Scoring in the first inning came on a Logan Bravo sacrifice fly, and then Devin Obee’s two-run double and Macon Winslow’s three-run homer.
Duke (11-1) didn’t score again until the fifth, when it sent 19 batters to the plate. Obee led off the inning with a homer and he had half as many homers in the inning as Ben Miller, who had a three-run shot and then a grand slam. Obee drove in four runs in three plate appearances, with the homer, a sac fly and then a double.
Miller was 4-for-5 with those seven RBI that came on the homers. Obee was 4-for-4 with six RBI. Kyle Johnson and Bravo both had three-hit days.
The Blue Devils used nine pitchers to get through the game. Tim Noone is the only one who faced double-digit batters, starting with three shutout innings in which he allowed one hit and had six strikeouts.
Perhaps most important among Duke’s pitching staff was James Tallon striking out the side in a shutout inning. He was Duke’s closer last season and has had a slow ramp to this season.
Duke opens ACC play with a three-game series at Wake Forest, which is also 11-1, this weekend.