DURHAM, N.C. — Staving off a furious late-game rally by No. 17-ranked Duke (2-3), the Cornell baseball team (1-0) claimed an 11-8 victory in its season-opening game at a chilly Jack Coombs Field on Friday afternoon.
 
Junior right-handed pitcher Carson Mayfield tossed six no-hit innings for the Big Red, who won its first season opener since defeating Navy, 5-2, in seven innings in the opening game of a twin bill to begin the 2017 campaign.
 
The win was Cornell's first over Duke since April 3, 1941, when it defeated the Blue Devils by an 8-5 score, also at Jack Coombs Field. It also marked the second consecutive year Cornell has defeated an ACC opponent, signifying the first time the feat has been accomplished since beating NC State five times across three years (twice in 1966, twice in 1967, once in 1968).
 
Offensively, the Big Red were led by senior center fielder Jakobi Davis and sophomore third baseman Luke Johnson, who both had two hits and drove in two runs. Senior left fielder John Quinlan also drove in a pair of runs, while senior first baseman Max Jensen and sophomore second baseman Owen Carlson had multi-hit performances.
 
Harvard graduate transfer Jake Berger drove in three of the Blue Devils' eight runs on the day with a three-run home run in the eighth inning. Jake Hyde and Sam Harris each had two RBI for the Blue Devils.
 
Kyle Johnson was saddled with the loss for Duke after allowing three runs on three hits over five innings of work. He issued three walks and fanned five Big Red batters.
 
After Cornell was set down in order to begin the game, the Big Red displayed its superb fielding against Duke's leadoff hitter with a sliding catch made by Davis.
 

 
Both pitchers started by retiring the first six batters they faced before Hager snapped that streak with a leadoff home run in the third inning, benefiting from a friendly bounce off the top of the wall.
 

 
Cornell increased its lead to 4-0 in the sixth, beginning with a leadoff home run by Jensen, lasering a 91 mph pitch over the right-field fence. An infield single by Davis and a bobbled ball by the Blue Devils' first baseman enabled Quatrani to score from second base. Luke Johnson concluded the Big Red's scoring in the sixth on an RBI single that plated Hager.
 
In the seventh, Cornell put up a crooked six-spot to increase its lead to 10-0, as the Big Red tallied all its runs with two outs. The inning started on the wrong foot for Duke as Penn transfer Ben Miller was credited with a fielding error. Following a pair of outs, the Blue Devils committed another error, leading to Cornell's avalanche of runs.
 
Davis kick-started Cornell's run barrage with a two-run triple that was out of the reach of Blue Devils' center fielder Tyler Albright. After Hager was hit by a pitch for the second time on the day, Cornell received run-scoring hits from Carlson (RBI single), Johnson (two-RBI double) and Quinlan (two-RBI single).
 
Sophomore right-hander Max Foster came in relief following Mayfield's six inning of no-hit baseball, striking out the first batter he faced before Duke broke the Big Red's no-hit bid with a solo home run to left field by Miller.
 
Duke tallied four more runs in the seventh to cut the Big Red's lead in half, 10-5, before a sacrifice fly by Hager in the eighth upped Cornell's lead back to 11-5.
 
After alternating walks and strikeouts across the first four Blue Devil batters in the eighth, Berger blasted his first home run of the season, a two-out, three-run shot, to trim Cornell's lead to 11-8.

Senior utility player Ryan Porter closed the game out for the Big Red, pitching the final 2.1 innings. He was able to stymie Duke's two-out rally in the ninth, inducing a game-ending fielder's choice.


 
GAME NOTES
• Friday was the 20th all-time meeting between Cornell and Duke. The Big Red registered its first victory over the Blue Devils since April 3, 1941, snapping a 10-game losing streak. The 11 runs scored rank as the second-highest ever recorded against Duke, trailing a 15-run performance in an 18-15 loss on March 30, 1948.
 
• Cornell registered its first win in a season opener since 2017 when it edged Navy, 5-2, in seven innings in the opening game of a twin bill in Annapolis, Md. It was just the seventh time this century that it had won its season opener, joining 2006 (Bucknell), 2008 (Siena), 2009 and 2017 (Navy), and 2012 and 2013 (Maryland Eastern Shore).
 
• The 11 runs scored in the season opener was the Big Red's highest scoring output to begin a season since 2012, when it defeated Maryland Eastern Shore 15-4. It was the 23rd time in program history that Cornell had scored 11-plus runs in its first game of the season. 

• Friday's win was Cornell's first against a ranked opponent on record since defeating No. 6-ranked Georgia Tech, 9-7, in seven innings at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta in the nightcap of doubleheader on March 23, 1991.

• It was the fourth victory for Cornell under Dan Pepicelli, the Ted Thoren Head Coach of Cornell Baseball, over a Power Four opponent. Three of the four victories have featured the Big Red scoring 10-plus runs.

CORNELL'S POWER FOUR VICTORIES
Under Dan Pepicelli
• March 19, 2017, vs. Michigan State (W, 2-1)
• March 28, 2018, at Penn State (W, 10-6 - 8 inn.)
• Feb. 25, 2024, at Georgia Tech (W, 11-4)
• Feb. 21, 2025, at No. 17 Duke (W, 11-8)
 
• Jensen's leadoff double to begin the fourth inning was his 34th career double with Cornell, tying Mickey Brodsky for the eighth-most doubles by a Big Red hitter.
 
MOST CAREER DOUBLES
Cornell History
1. 45, Mike Kalfopoulos (1982-85)
2. 40, Frank Hager (2009-12)
3. 39, Marlin McPhail (1979-82)
4. 38, Nathan Ford (2006-09)
5. 37, Andrew Luria (1999-02)
T6. 36, Terry Birrer (1982-85)
T6. 36, Bill Walkenbach (1995-98)
T8. 34, Mickey Brodsky (2008-11)
T8. 34, Max Jensen (2022-Present)
 
• The leadoff double also extended Jensen's hit streak to 19 games, dating back to last season. Since 2003, it is tied for the longest hitting streak posted by a Big Red player, matching Nathan Waugh '24, who had hits in 19 games across the final five games of the 2023 season and the first 14 games of last year's campaign.

• Mayfield registered his second career quality start, joining his outing against Princeton last March 22, where he allowed three earned runs over 6.2 innings of work, striking out eight batters and not issuing any walks.
 
• Under Dan Pepicelli, the Big Red is now 34-3 when scoring at least 10 runs in a game.

UP NEXT
Cornell and Duke will return to Jack Coombs Field on Saturday for the middle game of the weekend's three-game series.
 
First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. with Cornell junior left-handed pitcher Noah Keller toeing the rubber against Duke right-hander Ryan Higgins (0-0, 2.25). Game action will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra, accessed through ESPN+ with a cable subscription.