Coming off a successful weekend series against Boston College, Duke could not keep the momentum going in a 16-3 road loss to High Point (15-20).
"I'm disappointed with the results," head coach Sean McNally said. "We'd already played High Point once. We knew they had a good club. They played well. They pitched well and caught the ball well."
The High Point bats were on fire from the very beginning, scoring a run in the first and a pair in the second to bring the score to 3-0 going into the third inning.
The Blue Devils (10-24), however, broke the ice in the third. With one out and a full count, right fielder Jimmy Gallagher powered a shot the opposite way and over the left-field fence to put Duke on the board.
Gallagher's solo shot was the only run Duke could convert over the first five innings despite several scoring opportunities.
"We had the bases loaded twice in the first four innings, but weren't able to score once," McNally said. "Timely hitting kind of comes and goes, and we could have used it at a little more opportune time today."
High Point extended its lead to 10-1 with a run in the third, a pair in the fourth, and a four-run fifth inning.
In the sixth, Duke's Jonathan Nicolla went deep for his fourth home run of the season, lacing a solo shot over the left-field fence. Nate Freiman knocked in an RBI single to bring the score to 10-3.
High Point, however, sealed the game with four runs in the sixth and plated a couple more in the seventh to end the scoring at 16-3.
"It just seemed like one of those days where everything they hit found a hole," McNally said. "We certainly had opportunities on their starter and took some good swings. We just couldn't really get that big game to happen."
Duke's starter Andrew Wolcott (1-2) took the loss after surrendering 10 runs on 12 hits in 4.1 innings worked.
The Blue Devils open a three-game series with No. 18 Virginia Friday.
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