Duke slugger Luke Storm pulls off impressive feat in propelling Blue Devils to victory
Duke slugger Luke Storm pulled off a rare feat on Sunday afternoon against Longwood. Not only did he blast two home runs in one inning, but he hit each of them from opposite sides of the plate. The first was a two-run home run that he belted batting left-handed. Then, he blasted a grand slam batting right-handed, which proved to be the game-winner. His impressive showing from the plate helped propel the Blue Devils to a 13-9 victory over the Longwood Lancers.
Check out his home runs below.
Storm had the perfect swing at the perfect moment. With both teams tied at 9-9 in the bottom of the eighth inning, the bases were juiced, and Duke was down to their final out of the inning. That’s when Storm blasted a grand slam from the right side of the plate. It would prove to be the game-winner. He finished with three hits and seven RBIs this afternoon.
The Blue Devils were trailing Longwood 9-4 in the eighth inning, but erupted for nine runs to bring home the win. They wrapped up the first game of their doubleheader just in time. The second game of the Duke-Longwood doubleheader on Sunday afternoon was canceled due to impending weather.
The Blue Devils have been on fire lately on the baseball diamond. Duke currently sits at 32-13 and 14-9 overall. They are currently ranked as the No. 10 team in the nation, according to D1Baseball.com.
Their next game will be on Tuesday, May 9th against Rider. That one will be played in Durham and is slated to start at 6:00 PM EST.
Duke has a lineup loaded with power hitters, so it’s easy to see how they’ve gotten on a roll. The Blue Devils currently feature five batters that have blasted double digit home runs in the 2023 campaign (Storm is one of them).
Storm exploded onto the scene for the Blue Devils as a redshirt freshman in 2022. He tied for the team lead in home runs (10). Storm also led the team and ranked ninth in the ACC in doubles (17). He also ranked third among freshmen with a .337 batting average in ACC play.
Storm was a highly regarded prospect coming out of high school. He was the second-ranked shortstop in the state of Pennsylvania and the ninth-best prospect in the state, according to Perfect Game. He finished his junior season at Easton Area High School (Easton, Pa.)–batting .448. An excellent student as well, he finished in the top 10 percent of his class.