Duke Defeats No. 7 Seed Georgia, Nears Elimination

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    ATHENS, Ga. — Wallace Clark had an impressive performance, going 4 for 5 with two solo home runs, while Ben Miller contributed a three-run homer, lifting Duke to a 6-3 victory over the No. 7 overall seed Georgia in the Athens Regional on Saturday night. This result pushes Georgia into the losers’ bracket.

    Georgia now faces a challenging path to advance. They need to defeat Oklahoma State in an elimination game scheduled for early Sunday and must then overcome Duke twice, once on Sunday night and again on Monday, to progress to the super regionals.

    The Bulldogs took an early lead in the second inning against Duke’s starting pitcher Kyle Johnson, as Ryan Zaborowski homered right out of the gate. However, this advantage was short-lived as Duke responded in the third inning. Ben Miller’s pivotal three-run homer came after singles by Wallace Clark and AJ Gracia against Georgia’s starter Brian Curley.

    Wallace Clark continued his outstanding game by homering again to start the fifth inning. Subsequently, Curley was replaced by Kolten Smith after two more batters. Clark’s performance didn’t stop there—he hit another home run in the ninth inning against reliever Zach Harris. Before the inning was over, Jake Hyde added an RBI with a single following walks to Gracia and a hit-by-pitch to Miller.

    In Georgia’s batting efforts, Christian Adams managed a leadoff triple in the ninth inning against reliever James Tallon. Although Tallon struck out pinch hitter Devin Obee, Nolan McCarthy managed an RBI single. Tallon, however, secured Duke’s win by getting the last two outs, marking his second save of the night.

    Kyle Johnson, who pitched five innings, gave up two runs on three hits for Duke, leading his team admirably. Mark Hindy secured four outs, and Tallon successfully pitched the final 2 2/3 innings. For Georgia, Curley’s outing concluded with him allowing four runs on eight hits over 4 1/3 innings.