The N.C. Central Univer-sity men’s baseball team faced off against Duke University in a doubleheader last night at Jack Coombs Field.

The two games mark only the second and third meetings between the two Durham institutions.

Duke won the first meeting 10-2 at Durham Bulls Athletic Park on March 26.

In game one of the doubleheader, Duke defeated NCCU by a score of 8-2.

NCCU jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with runs scored by Oliver Jenkins and Kurt Wilson in the first inning.

However, Duke’s offense pummeled the Eagles from the second inning on.

Alexander Hassan hit a towering home run off NCCU pitcher Brandon Oatis.

Duke’s Nate Freiman and Matt Willams both would score on fly outs in the third inning. Freiman would add another run in the fifth inning.

Jeremy Gould’s home run in the 6th inning led to the final score of the first game.

Despite the loss, Oatis feels optimistic about his performance.

“The Duke batters just hit my spots,” said Oatis.

“They are a good team.”

“We have to do a better job of keeping their offense in check overall.”

NCCU baseball coach Henry White remained confident despite his teams’ two tough losses.

“I can see that we are getting better,” said White.

“Duke is an extremely talented team.”

“We have had many base-running miscues that we need to take care of.”

Duke slammed NCCU in the second game by a score of 22-0.

Next Wednesday, NCCU will face UNC-Wilmington in Wilmington at 7 p.m.

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