No. 11 Duke Defeated by A Gritty Cincinnati team
DURHAM N.C. — Cincinnati traveled to North Carolina this weekend to take on Duke. Duke, coming in at No. 11 in the preseason rankings, fell to 1-2 after opening weekend. One of their biggest losses of the weekend came against Cincinnati.
Cincinnati was left outside of the top 25 ranked teams in the country, but with a powerful showing this weekend going 2-1 and upsetting Duke in a powerful showing may land them a spot in the near future.
The Bearcats came out swinging in every inning after the first, they started the scoring in the third inning where they scored 3 runs. The scoring didn’t stop there as they rallied for 19 runs over 9 innings against Duke. Duke only managed to score 5, in the blowout loss to Cincinnati.
Kerrington Cross, third baseman for Cincinnati led the way on the offensive side going 3-5 with 4 RBIs for the Bearcats. Multiple players on the roster tallied two hits, and left fielder Cal Sefcik, hit a homer in the game.
Adam Mrakitsch started on the bump for the Bearcats and did a serviceable job. He managed to toss 3 innings in his opening start only surrendering 3 runs against the No. 11 team in the country. After that, Carson Marsh tossed a 1 run inning, then Hudson Johnson came in and hurled for 3 innings only surrendering 1 run. After that, Brendon Oliver and Chase Horst finished the game with two scoreless innings.
As for Duke, James Tallon started on the mound and surrendered 3 runs in 1.2 innings. It was an uphill battle after that, each Duke pitcher who came in next did not have it easy. Each pitcher surrending runs, and then the game broke open in the 6th innings when Collins Black gave up 6 earned runs in 0.2 innings.
As for the hitting side for Duke, Wallace Clark and Tyler Albright led the way for their team each tallying two hits… but it was not enough against a high-powered offensive showing from the bearcats.
Going 1-2 in the opening weekend series against Cincinnati, this may diminish Duke’s No. 11 ranking in the country, and may drop them out of the top 25 as the week goes on.
Video from “Wheels” on Youtube.
Cameron Williams
DiSportsPhotoAgency
Senior Writer
