Duke Drops Heartbreaker to No. 17 Miami

DURHAM – Duke junior pitcher Marcus Johnson pitched a scoreless six and a third innings, but an eighth-inning grand slam proved to be the difference as No. 17 Miami edged Duke 4-1 in ACC baseball action at Durham Bulls Athletic Park Friday night.

Johnson retired 23 of his 27 batters faced, struck out three and gave up only four hits. Duke falls to 12-14 overall and 3-7 against ACC foes, while Miami improves to 19-6 and 8-2 in conference action.

Miami sophomore Carson Palmquist was outstanding as well on the bump, striking out a career-high 12 batters while giving up three hits over the course of his six innings. He came in clutch in the bottom of the fourth, fanning consecutive Blue Devil batters with the bases loaded to get out of the inning unscathed.

Duke junior Graham Pauley provided the lone run of the day for the Blue Devils, hitting the second pitch he saw over the right field wall for the 1-0 lead in the first. The home run was his sixth of the season and marked his second leadoff homer in as many games.

Johnson, after working his way out of a jam in the first, retired 10 of the next 12 batters to keep the Blue Devils on top 1-0. The Hurricanes had no extra-base hits in the game until the grand slam in the eighth and stranded eight runners over the course of the first seven innings.  

Duke looked to extend its 1-0 lead a couple of times, loading the bases twice, but couldn’t bring any runners home. The Blue Devils left seven on base in the nine innings.

In the bottom of the fourth, senior RJ Schreck dropped in a leadoff single to right field and junior Chad Knight followed suit with a double to left field to push Schreck to third. The Blue Devils loaded the bases with one out after Luke Storm got hit by a pitch, but were unable to bring any runners home as Palmquist struck out the next two batters to get out of the inning. Duke also stranded three runners in the seventh inning.

Rafe Schlesinger earned the win for the Hurricanes, coming in for relief in the eighth inning. Andrew Walters picked up the save, striking out two of his three batters faced in the ninth. Jimmy Loper was credited with the loss for the Blue Devils, dropping to 2-1 overall.

The Blue Devils are back at Durham Bulls Athletic Park complete the three-game series Saturday at 3 p.m., and Sunday at 12 p.m.

#GoDuke