DURHAM, N.C. — No. 8 Duke's Michael Rothenberg hit a grand slam in the bottom of the third and the Blue Devils scored once in the eighth to pull away with a 5-0 victory over the Campbell Fighting Camels on Wednesday afternoon at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
Rookie right-handed pitcher Fred Sisco (0-1) made his first start as a Fighting Camel, picking up one strikeout in four innings. He sat the Blue Devils down in order in both the first and fourth innings but allowed four runs, four hits, two walks and a hit by pitch in his other two frames. Duke scored all four of its runs against him on Rothenberg's one-out grand slam in the third.
Sisco's freshman classmate Keegan Houser relieved him in the fifth. Houser went the next three-plus innings, posting at least one strikeout in each frame until the first two batters he faced in the eighth reached on a pair of hits, ending his night on the mound. He finished his third outing of the year with four strikeouts, no walks and one earned run.
Duke's starter Bill Chillari (3-0) earned his third victory of the season, limiting the Camels to no runs across the first three innings while striking out one and walking one.
C.J. Peechatka, Matthew Christian, Marcus Skundrich and Collin Wolf had one single each, as Campbell was limited to four hits in the setback. Skundrich also drew a walk, reaching in two of his three plate appearances.
Campbell threatened in the top of second after Spencer Packard led off the inning with a hit by pitch. Peechatka followed with a single into center field, but a fielder's choice from Christian erased Packard trying to advance to third base. Skundrich drew a two-out walk to load the bases, but a popout kept Campbell off the scoreboard.
Duke went ahead 4-0 in the bottom of the third when Rothenberg lifted a 1-1 pitch to right field for a one-out grand slam. Sisco settled in after the home run, getting the next two batters to fly out.
The Camels had two singles in the top of the fourth but stranded two more runners. Campbell was held off the base paths over the fifth through seventh innings before Waldy Arias led off the eighth with a walk. He advanced to third and Packard drew a two-out walk but Peechatka went down swinging for the final out.
Duke added a run in the eighth on a wild pitch from John VanderPloeg before Wyatt Tyson was called out from the bullpen with the bases loaded on no outs on the board. Tyson faced three batters, struck out the first two and got the third one to ground out, halting Duke to one run.
Campbell went down in order in the ninth to drop its third straight game and fall to 5-7 on the season.
Up Next for the Camels
The Fighting Camels continue their road swing by traveling to Greenville, S.C., this weekend for a three-game series at Southern Conference member Furman. The series opener is Friday, March 6 at 4 p.m., while games two and three are scheduled for 1 p.m. starts on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
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