Durham Blanked by Gwinnett in Finale

DURHAM, NC - An early deficit was too much too overcome as the Durham Bulls fell 5-0 to the Gwinnett Stripers in front of a season-high 11,516 paid fans on Thursday night at the DBAP, as the Bulls celebrated Hockey Night.
In front of the seventh-highest attendance in DBAP history, the Stripers (63-65) opened the scoring in the first inning with a solo home run by Austin Riley, his third of the series, to move the visitors in front 1-0. In the third inning, the Stripers tacked on another run on a 5-4-3 double play by Luis Marté to score Sean Kazmar Jr., who was hit by a pitch to open the frame giving Gwinnett a 2-0 lead.
The Stripers scored three runs on four hits in the fourth inning, capped with a two-run home run by Rio Ruiz, extending the visitor's advantage to 5-0, which proved to be the final score.
The Bulls (71-57) managed just three hits and were held scoreless for the 10^th time this season.
Touki Toussaint (W, 4-0) tossed 7.0 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and one walk to earn his fourth victory of the season.
Ryan Weber (L, 8-6) was saddled with the loss after allowing five runs on six hits over 5.0 innings with two strikeouts.
The Bulls and Stripers split the season series 11-11, and Durham now holds a 4.5-game lead over Norfolk in the South Division.
The Bulls hit the road to open a seven-game road trip with the first of four games at the Norfolk Tides on Friday night at Harbor Park. Austin Pruitt (2-0, 3.14) is scheduled to start for the Bulls and the starter for the Tides is to be determined.