Buies Creek – Griffin Conine homered twice and drove in five to lead Duke in a 12-10 come from behind win at Campbell Tuesday night at Jim Perry Stadium.
Duke moved to 18-17 on the season with the win, while Campbell dipped to 16-17.
The Blue Devils trailed 9-4 before a five-run fifth evened the game. After an error to lead off the inning, Conine knocked his first home run of the night just inside the right field foul pole, bringing Duke within three.
Three batters later and with one out, Kennie Taylor tripled in another Duke run, then scored on a wild pitch. A Justin Bellinger RBI groundout tied the game at 9-all before a pop out ended the rally.
Campbell regained the lead in the sixth with Zach Minnick’s third hit of the night, driving in Matthew Barefoot, who reached on a leadoff double.
The Camels held the 10-9 lead until Conine hit his second two-run home run of the night with two out in the top of the eighth. Duke added a run in the ninth on Zack Kone’s RBI single, making it 12-10.
Luke Whitten (1-0) earned the win, pitching two scoreless innings with a hit and a walk. Jack Labosky picked up the save, his fourth of the season, surrendering a hit in a scoreless ninth, striking out one.
Duke starter Graeme Stinson allowed four runs on four hits with a walk in one inning of work.
Wes Noble (1-2) was charged with the loss for Campbell, allowing two runs on two hits with three strikeouts and three walks in 3 2/3 innings of relief. CU starter Michael Horrell allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits with a strikeout and a walk in three innings.
Phil Stokes allowed six runs, three earned, on four hits with a strikeout in 1 1/3 innings, while Cole Hallum was charged with a run on two hits with a punchout in an inning.
Hallum and Minnick drove in four apiece for the Camels in the loss. Hallum went 2-for-4, also scoring a run, while Minnick went 3-for-5 with two doubles. Barefoot was 4-for-5, scoring four times, while Drew Butler notched a 3-for-5 night, tallying two runs.
Conine was 3-for-5 for the Blue Devils, while Kone went 2-for-4 with two RBI and three runs.
Campbell hosts Radford in a Big South series starting Thursday, April 13, at 6 p.m. The set continues Friday at 3 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m.at Jim Perry Stadium. Photo by Bennett Scarborough
