The Bison baseball team traveled to Durham, N.C. for a three-game series against the Duke Blue Devils from Feb. 23-25. The Orange and Blue could not pull out a win in the three contests, losing the games 0-7, 4-6, and 13-5. Their record moves to 0-6 on the season.

The Bison opened the series with a 0-7 shutout loss. Despite the final outcome, starting pitcher Connor Van Hoose ’18 posted an impressive performance, allowing only one run on three hits in six innings of work. Entering the bottom of the eighth inning, the Orange and Blue were only down by a 1-0 deficit, but Duke exploded for six runs in the frame.

Evan Klugerman ’19 recorded the only extra-base hit in the contest with his ninth inning double. The Bison had six hits total and left all six runners stranded on base, unable to put a run on the scoreboard.

The offense saw more success in the second game, a 4-6 loss, after another late-game surge from the Blue Devils. The Bison tallied 10 hits, led by Klugerman, who went 3-5, and JohnPaul Bell ’20, who went 2-4. Klugerman and Bell both had home runs. Evan Madigan ’20 added two singles.

The Orange and Blue had a 3-0 lead after the third inning, but Duke hit a grand slam in the bottom of the third to take a 4-3 lead. The Bison tied the score at 4-4 on an RBI from Bell. Tyler Wincig ’20 delivered three innings of relief before a double deep into right center field gave the Blue Devils took the 6-4 lead. The Orange and Blue were unable to rally in the final inning.

In the final contest, Duke provided an explosive offensive output to sweep the Bison with a 13-5 win. Bell and Miles Moore ’19 both had home runs, but it wasn’t enough for the Orange and Blue to tally a win. Moore’s home run was his first homer of his collegiate career.

Over the course of the weekend, Head Coach Scott Heather rotated in 17 players for the Bison, including seven pitchers, who combined for 11 strikeouts. Hunter Robichaux ’19, Christian Tailor ’19, and Nate Grisius ’20 all delivered scoreless innings of relief during the series.

“There were a lot of positives that came out of the weekend. Even though we went 0-3, our bats really started to come alive and it gave us a reason to be excited going into conference play,” Robichaux said. “Our pitching was much better this go around, and so was our defense. Hopefully playing both an SEC team and an ACC team back to back and being competitive with them is enough for us to realize we can hang with anyone.”

The Bison hit the road again to take on North Carolina A&T on March 2-4, as they look for their first win of the year.