Johnson Deals, Stone's Double Lifts No. 11 Duke Over No. 7 North Carolina Thursday - Duke University (2024)

• Box Score

Game Recap: Baseball | 5/16/2024 10:47:00 PM

DURHAM –FreshmanKyle Johnsontossed a career outing on Thursday and seniorAlex Stonedrove in what was the winning run in the bottom of the seventh, as No. 11 Duke (35-16, 16-12 ACC) defeated No. 7 North Carolina (39-12, 20-8 ACC), 5-3, at Jack Coombs Field.

Duke opened up the scoring in the bottom of the first inning, asLogan Bravosingled to left field to scoreBen Millerfrom second. In the bottom of the second inning, Johnson reached on an error to scoreDevin Obeefrom third, 2-0.

Johnson was electric on the mound in his start, working six innings and striking out a new career high eight batters, limiting the Carolina offense to no hits until a leadoff home run in the top of the sixth inning, cutting the Blue Devils lead in half.

Bravo gave the Blue Devils some insurance in the bottom of the sixth, hitting his 15th home run of the season, a solo shot to left field. The Tar Heels answered in the seventh, scoring a pair of runs to knock Johnson out of the game and tie the ballgame.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Stone collected his 40th double of his career, moving into a tie for 23rd all-time in that category to scoreAJ Graciafrom second and regain the lead. The Blue Devils added another run in the bottom of the eighth inning, pushing the lead to 5-3, asCharlie Beilensonentered on the mound.

Beilenson worked the final three frames of the game, allowing one hit and striking out six batters to improve to 6-2 on the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Logan Bravoopened the scoring in the bottom of the first inning, lacing a single to left field to scoreBen Millerfrom second, 1-0.
• In the bottom of the second inning,Kyle Johnsonreached on an error to scoreDevin Obeefrom third, 2-0.
• North Carolina cut into the lead in the top of the sixth inning, 2-1.
• In the bottom of the sixth inning, Bravo hit a solo home run to left field, 3-1.
• The Tar Heels tied the ballgame in the top of the seventh inning, 3-3.
• In the bottom of the seventh inning,Alex Stonedoubled down the line in left to scoreAJ Graciafrom second, 4-3.
• In the bottom of the eighth inning, Miller reached on an error to score Johnson from second, 5-3.

NOTES

• FreshmanKyle Johnsonmade his first start on the hill where he batted for himself in the lineup. Johnson posted a career day, working six innings and striking out a new high of eight Tar Heels.
• The Blue Devils improved to 195-63 (.756) when scoring first since 2016.
• GraduateLogan Bravohit his team leading 15th home run of the season, a solo shot to left field. Bravo finished the day 2-for-4 with two RBI, collecting his 17th multi-hit contest of the year.
• SeniorAlex Stoneextended his hitting streak to 10 games, lacing a double down the line in left to give Duke the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning.
• With the win on Thursday, Duke has now produced seven top-10 victories on the year.
• GraduateCharlie Beilensonimproved to 6-2 on the mound, working three innings and allowing one hit. Beilenson added six punchouts to his tally, as Duke struck out 14 Tar Heels in the win.

QUOTES

• "There are step up performances and then there are step up performances. Just a tremendous job byKyle Johnsonwhen we needed it most. For him to cover the first six innings of that game and be in complete command set us up well for the rest of the weekend. The job by he andCharlie Beilensonwas amazing to cover that game against an unbelievable offense. They have a great club and is a really good team. I thought we found a way to push across a couple early and then Bravo having an answer was big. It was a great job by coach Blankmeyer waving Kyle home there in the ninth. A lot of third base coaches would have held the runner, but he sent him and it was a little bit of breathing room for us against a great offense. We get to enjoy it for a couple hours and then have to wake up with amnesia and get after it tomorrow." – Head coachChris Pollardon his overall thoughts on tonight.

UP NEXT

• Duke and North Carolina continue the three-game set on Friday afternoon from Jack Coombs Field. First pitch has been moved to 2 p.m. and tickets for the original time slot are valid. For more information on Friday'scontest, please contact the Duke ticket office.

For more information on Duke Baseball, follow the Blue Devils on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram by searching "DukeBASE".

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