DURHAM, N.C. - App State baseball fell 8-5 to No. 23 Duke at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park Tuesday.
Tuesday was the first matchup between the two programs since 2012, when current Duke head coach Chris Pollard was then the head man of the Mountaineers. Kermit Smith's App State (2-2) struck first Tuesday with a Dylan Rogers first-inning home run, and an Alex Agulia second-inning, RBI-single to lead 2-0 through two complete.
Duke (3-1) answered the Mountaineers' explosive start with a run in the third, but App State would later pull ahead 4-1 through four complete. A sac fly from Aguila and a RBI-single from RJ Johnson propelled the Mountaineers to their 4-1 advantage.
Cameron Kepley earned the midweek start against the ranked Blue Devils, pitching for the first time since 2019. Kepley tossed 2.2 innings, allowing one run on two hits and struck out four.
Duke plated four runs in the fifth, three off a three-run homer by Chad Knight, and would not look back. Duke scored seven of its eight runs in a three-inning span, the fifth through the seventh.
App State battled back to pull within one in the top of the seventh courtesy of a RBI-double from Jacob Whitley to score Rogers. Two insurance runs from the Blue Devils in the bottom of the seventh put the Mountaineers away.
Offensively, the Mountaineers matched the Blue Devils with nine hits despite Duke throwing seven different arms. Six of App State's nine hits came from the bottom half of the order as six different Mountaineers recorded a hit, tying a season high.
Agulia, Hunter Bryson and Rogers each recorded two hits apiece Tuesday. Agulia led the charge in the RBI department with two as Rogers, Johnson and Jacob Whitley each tallied one.
Cameron Carter was credited with the loss for the Mountaineers, pitching 2.1 innings. Defensively the Mountaineers were one strikeout shy of double digits for the third-straight outing.
App State will look to regroup for its three-game road series at UNCG on Feb. 25-27.
The 2022 App State baseball season is presented by Chick-fil-A.
